Supreme Court Rebukes Administration on Deportee Rights, Denied Counsel
The Supreme Court in Eswatini has ruled that four men deported by the U.S. under a third-country program can finally meet with a lawyer. These men, who have been denied in-person legal counsel for nine months while held in a maximum-security prison, will now have access to a local lawyer representing their U.S.-based legal team. This decision comes after the Eswatini government appealed a lower court’s ruling, arguing the deportees had no right to counsel as they had not been charged with any crime in Eswatini. The ruling highlights concerns about the denial of basic rights for individuals deported under such programs to countries with questionable human rights records.
John Q. Hosedrinker