The US resumed deportation flights to so-called “third countries” after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the controversial practice.
Five migrants from five different countries were flown on Tuesday to the small Southern African nation of Eswatini. The Donald Trump administration has previously sent deportees to El Salvador and South Sudan as part of its intensifying immigration crackdown, drawing scrutiny and legal challenges.
It’s not unheard of for governments to deport people to countries they aren’t from: Australia sends asylum seekers to offshore processing facilities in Pacific island nations, and the UK’s previous government struck a similar deal with Rwanda. But that plan cost more than $900 million, and only a total of four migrants were transferred.