The migrants—citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos—had served prison sentences in the U.S. for serious crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the five men as "individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back."

The government of Eswatini has confirmed that the migrants are currently being held in its prisons. They have been put in isolated cells, as authorities acknowledged “widespread concerns” about the mi

The US has deported immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen to Eswatini in Southern Africa following a recent Supreme Court ruling on third country deportations.

Immigration expert Professor Loren Landau of Wits University says it is too early for South Africa to be concerned about potential fallout, after the US the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that a deportation flight carrying immigrants from multiple countries landed in Eswatini.