Eswatini Supreme Court allows lawyer access to men in US deportation case

Key Points:

• The Supreme Court of Eswatini ruled that four men deported from the U.S. under the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program can finally meet in person with a local lawyer after being denied legal counsel for nine months.
• The Eswatini government had appealed a lower court decision allowing a local lawyer to meet the men, arguing they had no right to counsel since they were not charged with crimes in Eswatini, but the Supreme Court dismissed these claims.
• The four men, from Cuba, Yemen, Laos, and Vietnam, have been held in Eswatini’s maximum-security prison without charges, sparking criticism that the U.S. deportation program violates the rights of migrants sent to countries with questionable human rights records.
• The U.S. government has paid Eswatini $5.1 million to accept deportees and has similar agreements with at least seven other African countries, spending at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to third countries.
• Senate Democrats and human rights advocates have raised concerns about the secrecy and ethical implications of these deportation deals, especially involving countries with records of corruption and repression.