The Trump administration has chosen Eswatini as the latest destination for the deportation of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego, escalating a case that has already spanned multiple countries and stirred legal controversy.
In an email shared by his lawyers, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed the decision, saying Abrego’s deportation had been switched from Uganda to Eswatini after he claimed he would face persecution there. A DHS official, however, dismissed his fears outright. “That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed… that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries,” the official wrote, before notifying him that Eswatini was now the destination.
For Abrego, 30, the ruling adds another twist to a long-running saga. He is currently detained in Virginia and has no family or ties to Eswatini, a small southern African kingdom thousands of miles from his birthplace of El Salvador. His ordeal began in March, when US officials accused him of being a gang member and deported him to El Salvador, defying a judge’s order. He was later brought back to the US to face charges of smuggling migrants, charges he has pleaded not guilty to. His lawyers insist the case is politically motivated and amounts to vindictive prosecution.
The government, meanwhile, has doubled down. On Friday, DHS filed new court documents opposing Abrego’s asylum bid, arguing that he has links to the violent MS-13 gang, which Washington considers a terrorist organization. Abrego has never been prosecuted for gang activity and denies any involvement. His earlier asylum attempt was rejected as late, though he did once secure protection from deportation to El Salvador after proving credible threats of violence from gangs in his hometown.
Abrego’s personal story complicates the picture further. He entered the United States in 2011, fleeing violence, and built a life in Maryland as a sheet metal worker. He lived there with his wife, their young child, and two stepchildren—all of them US citizens—until his arrest turned their lives upside down.
His legal team now accuses the administration of using deportation destinations as a bargaining chip. Court records show that at one point, officials offered to deport him to Costa Rica if he agreed to plead guilty, but threatened Uganda if he refused. In July, DHS confirmed that a deportation flight carrying detainees had been sent to Eswatini, describing the passengers as individuals “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”
The case has sparked outrage from human rights advocates, who argue that the US is exploiting African states through questionable deportation deals. The African Union has voiced concerns that such arrangements could destabilize the region and undermine national sovereignty.
For Abrego’s lawyers, the latest move to send him to Eswatini—where he has no connections—shows just how far the Trump administration is willing to go to enforce its hardline immigration agenda. Whether he will ultimately be deported remains uncertain, but his case is already being seen as a test of how far Washington can stretch the limits of international deportation policy.
