US deportations under secretive deals with African nations have drawn fierce criticism from Human Rights Watch, which accused Washington of violating international law.
Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have accepted deportees in recent months under arrangements struck by Donald Trump’s administration, according to the rights watchdog.
The group revealed that Eswatini received $5.1 million in return for agreeing to host up to 160 deportees. None of the details were made public by either government.
In July, the kingdom accepted five non-nationals—including Cubans, Jamaicans, Laotians, Vietnamese and Yemenis—placing them in its notorious Matsapha prison, already crowded with political detainees.
One of them, a 62-year-old Jamaican man who had finished a murder sentence in the United States, was later transferred to Jamaica.
Eswatini’s civil society and legal groups have taken the matter to court, demanding transparency and questioning the legality of detentions carried out under the deal.
Rwanda has also agreed to accept up to 250 deportees in exchange for $7.5 million in US financial assistance, HRW said.
The organisation condemned the secret agreements, calling them instruments of suffering designed to deter migration through fear and uncertainty.
“These opaque deals transform African governments into willing partners in human rights violations,” said Allan Ngari, the group’s advocacy director.
HRW urged governments to refuse future deportees, annul existing pacts, and guarantee that none face persecution if returned to their homelands.
It also demanded that terms of the agreements be disclosed, independent monitoring be allowed, and detentions avoided unless based on clear legal grounds.
The deals, HRW warned, blur the line between financial aid and the commodification of human lives, exposing vulnerable migrants to fresh peril.
For now, the fates of those already transferred rest inside crowded prisons and courtrooms far from the borders they once crossed.