By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Salvadoran national who has been at the centre of an immigration row, Kilmar Ábrego García is now to be deported to Eswatini and not Uganda as earlier considered by US government, President Donald Trump’s administration says.
In an email to his lawyers, an immigration officer said they were changing last month’s decision to send him to Uganda, after Mr Ábrego García raised fears of persecution in the East African country.
The officer said that the claims were “hard to take seriously”, but the US would “nonetheless” agree not to send him there.
This is at least the fourth country considered as a potential destination for the 30-year-old.
He was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, and then returned to face criminal charges. US officials acknowledged at the time that he was removed in error.
In June he was brought back to the US, where he was detained and charged with human smuggling. He pleaded not guilty.
US officials claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation he also denies.
His deportation case has become a focal point in the administration’s crackdown on immigration.
The US has already deported five people to Eswatini, describing them as “criminal illegal aliens” to the country.
The move sparked concern in the small African nation surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique, that it was gradually becoming a dumping ground for criminals rejected by their own countries and the US.
Eswatini has not confirmed whether it receives payments for the deportation deal struck with the Trump administration.
The US is the fourth-largest market for the country’s biggest export, sugar. Analysts suggest that Eswatini may be trying to safeguard this trade and avoid tariffs.
Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested alongside three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.
