Jamaican man repatriated from Eswatini after U.S. third-country deportation program draws scrutiny

A Jamaican man deported by the United States to Eswatini has been repatriated to Jamaica, Eswatini authorities said Monday. Orville Etoria, who had been held in a maximum-security prison in Eswatini for more than two months without charges or access to legal counsel, was repatriated to his home country with the assistance of the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, Eswatini government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said in a statement.

His lawyers have said the United States dispatched him to Eswatini under the third-country deportation program promoted during the Trump years, even though Jamaica had offered to take him back. They also alleged that Etoria and the four other men were repeatedly denied visits by a lawyer while detained in Eswatini’s prison. The lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday about his Jamaica arrival.

Etoria's repatriation to Jamaica was carried out on Sunday with the assistance of the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, Mdluli said. She added that there were ongoing engagements with the other four men — from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen — to arrange their return home.

The five men had been described by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as dangerous criminals. DHS said they had been sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them back. Eswatini, in turn, said they were in transit there and would be sent home. The men had been convicted of serious crimes, including murder and child rape, and all were in the U.S. illegally with deportation orders. Their lawyers have contended that they completed their sentences but were sent overseas to be held in another prison without charges or due process.

The U.S. has deported people to at least four African countries under the third-country program: South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda and Ghana. It has an agreement with Uganda, though no deportations there have been announced. Critics, including lawyers and human-rights experts, say the program can send migrants to countries with limited ties to the individuals and where rights may be restricted. DHS has said those in the U.S. illegally should leave voluntarily or could be deported to “any number of third countries.”

Two court cases have been filed in Eswatini against authorities over the detention of the men there. One suit seeks in-person access to lawyers, while another filed by nonprofit organizations argues the detention is unconstitutional. Hearings for the first case have been repeatedly delayed, and government officials failed to appear for a hearing in the second.

Separately, a Mexican man was repatriated earlier this month after spending two months detained in an unspecified location in South Sudan. He was among several deportees held for weeks before that at a U.S. military base in Djibouti. Six other deportees are still believed to be held in South Sudan.