CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Five immigrants deported by the United States to the small southern African nation of Eswatini under the Trump administration's third-country program are in prison, where they will be held in solitary confinement for an undetermined time, a government spokesperson said.
Thabile Mdluli, the spokesperson, declined to identify the correctional facility or facilities where the five men are, citing security concerns. She said Eswatini planned to ultimately repatriate the five to their home countries with the help of a United Nations agency.
In cell phone messages to The Associated Press on Thursday, Mdluli said it wasn't clear how long that would take.
The men, who the U.S. says were convicted of serious crimes and were in the U.S. illegally, are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos. Their convictions included murder and child rape, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, describing them as "uniquely barbaric."
Their deportations were announced by Homeland Security on Tuesday and mark the continuation of President Donald Trump's plan to send deportees to third countries they have no ties with after it was stalled by a legal challenge in the United States.
Here's what we know and don't know about the deportations:
A new country for deportees
Eswatini, a country of 1.2 million people bordering South Africa, is the latest nation to accept third-country deportees from the U.S. The Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, and deported eight men earlier this month to South Sudan, also an African country.