JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Eswatini’s government said on Thursday that it did not have any agreement with the United States to receive Kilmar Abrego, who the Trump administration said last week could be deported to the small African state.
“The Government of Eswatini has not received any communication regarding this person,” government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli told Reuters.
“Any proposal to send more deportees to Eswatini will be discussed between the governments of Eswatini and the United States of America prior to initiating processes, and the country will be properly informed,” she added in a text message.
Eswatini accepted five third-country deportees from the U.S. in July, for which it is facing a court challenge by local human rights activists who claim their government’s secretive deal with the Trump administration was illegal.
Abrego, whose arrest and fight to stay in the U.S. have become a flashpoint in its immigration crackdown, is originally from El Salvador and currently being held in an immigration detention centre in Virginia.
A September 5 email from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official to Abrego’s lawyers said: “We hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini.”
The official said the change was made because Abrego, 30, had stated that he feared persecution or torture in Uganda, previously designated for his deportation. He has no ties to Eswatini.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Eswatini’s statement.
Abrego’s saga began in March, when U.S. authorities accused him of being a gang member and sent him to an El Salvadoran prison despite an order from a U.S. judge prohibiting his deportation to his native country.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson)
