By John Q. Hosedrinker 
The United States has deported five individuals convicted of serious crimes to Eswatini, expanding a controversial third-country deportation program. These individuals, citizens of various nations, were reportedly considered too dangerous for their home countries to accept. The Eswatini government confirmed the men were in transit, to be returned to their countries of origin with the aid of the U.S. and the U.N. migration agency. This practice has sparked criticism due to Eswatini’s human rights record and the secretive nature of such agreements, as well as concerns about the individuals’ safety upon return.
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US deports immigrants from Jamaica, Cuba, and other countries to the African kingdom of Eswatini.
This whole situation is just… bizarre, isn’t it? The news is that the US is deporting immigrants, including people from Jamaica and Cuba, and sending them to Eswatini, a small kingdom in Africa. And the most striking part? Eswatini officials have stated they will work to send these five people back to their home countries. This raises a lot of questions, and the first thought that pops into mind is, how is it even legal to deport someone to a country they’re not from? It’s like they’re catching strays and dropping them off in someone else’s backyard.
The logistics are another puzzle. Eswatini is a country with a population smaller than a city like San Diego, so to think they can negotiate a deal that the US, with all its resources, couldn’t is mind-boggling. Then there’s the name change; Eswatini was formerly known as Swaziland, and has been a recipient of a lot of USAID and Peace Corps programs. It’s like, what’s the deal? Why not deport them back to their actual home countries? Surely that would be easier, and maybe even more humane.
The more you think about it, the stranger it becomes. If these individuals are being sent to foreign prisons, are they essentially just holding them for profit? Are the crimes they may have committed even relevant to the matter? Is it all a matter of who has the space and how cheaply they’ll keep them locked up? We’re talking about potentially very long flights for the deportees, and yet, the US is not sending them to their countries of origin.
It makes you wonder if we could crowdsource plane tickets and send these people back to where they belong. The idea of just sending them somewhere, anywhere, with no regard for where they actually come from feels incredibly cruel. There’s a sense that the federal government is actively involved in human trafficking and kidnapping, all happening right under our noses. It’s like we’ve wandered into some strange alternate reality where the rules don’t apply.
And what about the implications? Some suspect that once the “illegals” run out, the focus might shift to other groups. This just underscores the core problem: this feels very much like a calculated move. The cruelty feels like the point. Given the high rates of HIV in Eswatini, and other health concerns, sending people there feels like a form of punishment, not an attempt at rehabilitation.
So, what is the logic behind it? Is it simply a lack of agreement with other countries to accept immigrants? Is it all about costs, with long flights to Africa versus shorter ones to Mexico? It raises a lot of questions about human rights and our government’s actions. It makes you wonder if the deportations are about something far more sinister than immigration.
What’s worse is the fact that this is happening now, and it raises the question of what kind of future we’re heading toward. Is this the America we want? Are we becoming like Russia, contracting out our problems to other countries?
The whole thing is disturbing, not just for the individuals being sent to Eswatini, but for what it reveals about our priorities and our values. We are sending people to a place where the quality of life is substantially less than what they’ve experienced, even if it’s a prison cell. It also raises questions about the intentions behind these actions. It all reeks of dehumanization. It is nothing short of human trafficking. It is disgusting. It is the reality of the situation and, at times, is difficult to comprehend.