Eswatini said on Tuesday it has repatriated a Jamaican man deported to the southern African kingdom under U.S. immigration rules, amid mounting criticism from rights advocates over a deal that saw five non-Eswatini nationals expelled there.
Government spokesman Alpheous Nxumalo said Orville Isaac Etoria, 62, was “voluntarily repatriated” to Jamaica over the weekend and “warmly welcomed by his family.”
New York’s Legal Aid Society condemned Etoria’s treatment, saying he arrived in the United States as a child and held lawful permanent resident status for decades before being deported and then held in solitary confinement in Eswatini. The group said Etoria had “transformed his life” while serving a 25-year sentence for murder and had reintegrated into U.S. society prior to removal.
Etoria was among five people — from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen — sent to Eswatini in July and described by U.S. authorities at the time as “depraved monsters.” Since then, the group has been held in a maximum-security facility in the capital Mbabane, according to lawyers, who say they have been unable to contact the remaining four detainees.
Eswatini’s government said it is working to repatriate all five to their countries of nationality and acted within its legal powers in accepting them. Activists in Eswatini have called the arrangement unconstitutional and staged protests outside the U.S. embassy, while rights groups have filed court challenges seeking to overturn the deal.
Mass deportations were a central pledge of U.S. President Donald Trump’s election campaign. In some cases, people have been expelled to countries where they have no ties, rights advocates say.
Formerly Swaziland, Eswatini is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The small, landlocked nation is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.