The United States deported about a dozen people to Eswatini on Wednesday, an American immigration lawyer and local sources told AFP.

Alma David, a US immigration attorney familiar with some of the deportees' cases, said 11 people were sent to Eswatini.

A local source put the number at nine. Their nationalities were unclear but another source said those details would emerge when they are processed on Thursday morning.

Eswatini has already received 19 deportees since July 2025. Two of them – a Jamaican and Cambodian – have been repatriated, but 17 remain in a high-security prison.

Reception of the deportees

A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an official convoy had travelled to the main international airport "to process and receive new US deportees."

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.

While countries like Eswatini have held US deportees indefinitely, other countries, such as Ghana, have quickly sent the deportees they received back to their home countries.