The Department of Homeland Security resumed third country deportation flights on Tuesday by deporting five immigrant detainees, all from different countries, to the small nation of Eswatini in Southern Africa.
The five men from Vietnam, Laos, Jamaica, Cuba and Yemen have criminal backgrounds ranging from murder to sexual assault, according to a social media post by the DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
“This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” McLaughlin wrote.
It’s not clear if the men are in law enforcement custody in Eswatini. Mclaughlin told NBC News, “That’s up to Eswatini.”
The landlocked country is located between South Africa and Mozambique and occupies an area slightly smaller than New Jersey.
Representatives for the government of Eswatini and their embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
The resumption of third country deportations comes as ICE put out new guidance that its employees are allowed in certain circumstances to deport migrants to countries that are not their own in as little as six hours — and without assurances from the third country that they “will not be persecuted or tortured.”
In other cases, according to the new guidance, ICE must serve the immigrant with a notice of removal that lists what country the federal government intends to deport them to in a language that the immigrant understands.
ICE officers will not affirmatively ask whether the person is afraid of being sent to that country, according to the memo, but those who voice such a fear will be referred for screening for possible protection within 24 hours. ICE could still attempt to send the person to a different country other than the one they said they were fearful of being sent to.
The Supreme Court paved the way for DHS to resume swift deportation of migrants to countries that are not their own in late June.
The decision came after a deportation flight with eight migrants left Texas reportedly intended for South Sudan in late May, sparking a legal battle that resulted in the men being held in Djibouti.
In a filing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration said it had received assurances from South Sudan that the men “will not be subject to torture” under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
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