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."

Eswatini government says the five deportees sent from the US are in jail and pose no threat to the country or citizens.

Eswatini’s government said on Wednesday that it was holding five third-country nationals deported from the United States in isolated prison units under a deal with President Donald Trump’s administration,