Keypoints:
- Eswatini confirms $5.1m transfer
- Rights groups decry migrant deal
- Court case challenges legality
ESWATINI has confirmed receiving $5.1 million from the Trump administration in exchange for accepting individuals deported from the United States under Washington’s hardened approach to immigration enforcement. The admission, made in parliament on Monday, has ignited renewed criticism from rights groups and triggered a legal battle over the government’s authority to enter the agreement.
Minister confirms funding tied to deportee transfers
Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg told MPs that the payment had been deposited in a government account, confirming months-long speculation. According to AFP, the minister said his department only discovered the purpose of the funds after seeking clarification from officials involved in the secretive arrangement.
‘We were told it was for the US deportees after we enquired,’ Rijkenberg told parliament. He explained that the money had been placed in the account of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), but the agency was prohibited from using it because parliament had not formally allocated the funds.
Rights watchdogs question legality and transparency
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last September it had reviewed a copy of the agreement, which indicated Eswatini would accept up to 160 deportees in return for the $5.1 million, earmarked for strengthening ‘border and migration management capacity’.
Eswatini has already received two groups: five deportees in July and 11 in October. One individual was later sent on to Jamaica, his country of origin. Acting government spokeswoman Thabile Mdluli told the BBC that negotiations were underway to return the remaining deportees to their respective home countries. ‘Eventually, they will all be repatriated,’ she said.
Mdluli insisted that the government had always been transparent about the US providing financial support for the deportees’ welfare, repatriation and other temporary needs.
Civil society mounts court challenge
The revelation has intensified a court action brought by Eswatini’s lawyers and civil society groups, who argue the government acted unlawfully by accepting deportees without parliamentary approval. The government is defending the case, arguing it has the authority to negotiate international arrangements of this kind.
Eswatini’s prison service has maintained that the deportees pose no danger and are being ‘securely accommodated’. The US government has labelled some of the deportees — from countries including Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen — as ‘depraved monsters’.
Regional fears over migration spillover
Neighbouring South Africa has also expressed concern, warning that deportees could attempt to cross into its territory through Eswatini’s porous borders. The kingdom is surrounded by South Africa on three sides and shares a further border with Mozambique.
Mdluli said any decision to accept additional deportees would depend on ‘engagements’ with the US and whether Eswatini had adequate capacity.
