Mbabane, Eswatini - The Eswatini government said Thursday a new group of people it received after they were deported from the US was made up of 11 people mostly from other African countries.
The new arrivals were flown into the tiny nation on Wednesday, the fourth group to arrive since July last year as part of a $5 million-deal with Washington.
They were "predominantly from African countries," a government statement said, without providing details.
It confirmed information from an American immigration attorney to AFP Wednesday that there were 11 people in the new group, who were flown in from the US on two planes.
Local sources told AFP Thursday that 10 of the deported individuals were from the African continent.
A video shared with AFP showed the deported people arriving at the heavily guarded Matsapha Correctional Center.
Eswatini has already taken in 19 men as part of US deals with several African nations to accept migrants under a third-country deportation program that is part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Two of them – a Jamaican and Cambodian – have been repatriated, but 17 remain in the high-security prison, held without charge.
Amnesty International has called the deportation scheme "deeply abusive."
Eswatini says the deportees are only in the country temporarily as it expects them to be returned to their countries of origin.
Africa's last absolute monarchy, Eswatini confirmed last year it had received around $5.1 million from the US to accept 160 deportees. The funds were meant to strengthen its border and migration management capacity.