Keypoints:
- US shifts deportation plan to Eswatini
- Abrego denies MS-13 gang links
- Lawyers allege coercion in plea offer
THE Trump administration has designated Eswatini as the new destination for Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego’s deportation, intensifying a legal and political dispute that has already spanned several countries.
According to an email shared by his lawyers, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it had switched Abrego’s deportation from Uganda to Eswatini after he expressed fears of persecution in Uganda.
‘That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries,’ the DHS official wrote. ‘Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa.’
A case without ties
Abrego, 30, originally from El Salvador, is currently detained in Virginia. He has no family or connections in Eswatini, a small landlocked country in southern Africa.
The decision is the latest twist in a case that began in March, when US authorities accused Abrego of being a gang member and deported him to El Salvador in defiance of a judge’s order. He was later returned to the US to face charges of transporting migrants illegally. Abrego has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers say the case amounts to vindictive prosecution.
Asylum claims blocked
On Friday, DHS released immigration court filings opposing Abrego’s bid for asylum. The department argues he is linked to the criminal group MS-13, a designated terrorist organisation in the US. Abrego denies the charge and has never been prosecuted for it.
Last month, he filed a motion in Baltimore immigration court to reopen his 2019 case and reapply for asylum, after his earlier application was denied as late. While he was not granted asylum, he had previously won protection from deportation to El Salvador due to credible threats of gang violence.
Abrego entered the US in 2011, fleeing threats in his hometown. He built a life in Maryland as a sheet metal worker, living with his wife, their child and two stepchildren, all US citizens, until his arrest.
Coercion allegations
Abrego’s legal team has accused the administration of using deportation destinations as leverage. Court records show that officials at one point offered to send him to Costa Rica if he pleaded guilty, but to Uganda if he did not.
In July, DHS confirmed that a deportation flight had been sent to Eswatini with detainees ‘so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,’ according to spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.
Wider concern
The case has drawn criticism from human rights groups and prompted broader debate about US deportation deals with African states. The African Union has raised concerns about such arrangements, arguing they risk undermining regional stability and sovereignty.
Abrego’s lawyers insist the latest order to deport him to Eswatini underscores the lengths to which the Trump administration will go in its immigration crackdown.
