Trump Administration Sends Foreign Convicts to Tiny African Nation Under Controversial Deportation Policy

WASHINGTON/MBABANE, July 27, 2025 (Cameroon Concord) — In what critics call a stark display of American double standards, the Trump administration has escalated its controversial deportation policy by offloading five foreign nationals convicted of crimes onto the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, a nation they have no ties to.

The five deportees — nationals of Vietnam, Laos, Yemen, Cuba, and Jamaica — were removed from the United States under a third-country deportation scheme that has drawn mounting criticism for treating vulnerable, voiceless countries as “dumping grounds” for unwanted migrants.

Earlier this month, on July 4, the administration also deported eight other migrants to war-torn South Sudan, despite clear warnings over the country’s instability and the lack of legal or humanitarian safeguards.

Observers and human rights groups argue that Africa, already grappling with poverty and fragile governance in some states, is being cynically used by Washington to offload its “persona non grata” migrants, without concern for their welfare or the burden on host nations.

“How does a man from Vietnam find himself deported to Eswatini, a country he’s never seen, where he has no family, no roots, no chance? This defies not only logic but the very humanitarian ideals America claims to uphold,” said one migration advocate in Washington.

A Policy of Pressure and Hypocrisy

The Trump administration has reportedly leaned on small, voiceless African and Asian nations to sign quiet deals accepting deportees rejected by their own home countries. Previous removals have sent Venezuelans to El Salvador, Africans and Asians to Costa Rica, Panama, and South Sudan, and now this latest batch to Eswatini.

CBS News and diplomatic sources confirm the U.S. has approached Honduras, Kosovo, Rwanda, Libya, Moldova, and others with similar pressure. The nations are offered aid and diplomatic favors in exchange for accepting deportees they have no obligation to take.

“This is not diplomacy — it is coercion of weak states by a superpower,” said one African diplomat privately. “We become dumping grounds for people who have nothing to do with us, while the U.S. keeps preaching human rights to the world.”

Immigrants in Legal Limbo

For the deported men, the consequences are profound. They arrive in countries they do not know, unable to communicate, stripped of rights, with no means of livelihood, and often at risk of abuse or detention in the host country.

Under the latest ICE guidelines, detainees now have as little as 6 to 24 hours’ notice of deportation to a third country, and are expected to raise objections proactively — a nearly impossible burden for many who lack lawyers or language skills.

“This is effectively banishment to nowhere. How does Eswatini integrate a Yemeni national convicted in the U.S.? How does South Sudan handle Cuban or Asian deportees?” a U.N. official asked.

Defying the Humanitarian Image

The policy lays bare the growing contradiction between Washington’s self-proclaimed humanitarian leadership and its actions on immigration. Rights groups say deporting people to unstable or foreign countries violates U.S. obligations under the Convention Against Torture and international refugee law.

“America is exporting its immigration problem at the expense of human lives,” said an Amnesty International statement, calling the practice “inhumane and hypocritical.”

The Big Question

As the U.S. keeps citing rule of law and human rights to others, it faces mounting criticism at home and abroad for treating vulnerable migrants as disposable. Tiny nations like Eswatini — already struggling with poverty and governance challenges — now shoulder a burden they never created.

Is America living up to its own humanitarian ideals? Should tiny African states like Eswatini be forced to accept unwanted deportees? Are these third-country deportations legal — or merely another way of shirking responsibility? What becomes of migrants left stranded in nations they’ve never known?

Have your say.