An Immigrant Deported by the US and Held in an African Prison for More than a Year Has Been Released
His lawyer said he left Eswatini and landed in Johannesburg en route to Laos after being held without charges.
- On Sunday, Laotian citizen Phone Chomsavanh was released from the Matsapha Correctional Complex in Eswatini after being held for more than a year without charge, his lawyer said.
- The Trump administration initiated this secretive third-country deportation program in July 2025, paying Eswatini $5.1 million to accept deportees including Chomsavanh, who had no ties to the African nation.
- Human Rights First reports that around 500 immigrants have been deported from the United States to African countries since the program began last year. Eswatini has received around 30 deportees so far.
- Tin Thanh Nguyen, Chomsavanh's U.S.-based lawyer, confirmed his client is now being deported to Laos after his release from Eswatini. The Supreme Court ruled last week to temporarily allow the administration to continue removals despite legal challenges.
- Legal challenges persist in the United States and abroad; an appeals court previously halted the program over due process concerns about potential persecution. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in December on the policy's constitutionality.
42 Articles
42 Articles
Los Angeles Times
A Lao citizen deported by the United States to Esuatini as part of the Trump administration's immigration offensive was released on Sunday from a maximum security prison in the African nation, after having stayed there for more than a year, his lawyer said.
Laotian man deported by U.S. to Eswatini is released after more than a year in prison
Phone Chomsavanh was among five immigrants deported to Eswatini — where he has no ties — in July 2025 in the early days of the Trump administration's secretive and highly contentious third-country deportation program.
He had been expelled from the United States, where he spent most of his life, towards the Eswatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy. After 15 months in a high-security prison in that country, Phone Chomsavanh has just been released. He is one of the faces of Donald Trump's policy of expulsions to third countries, denounced by the UN as contrary to international law. This Laotian is now on his way to Laos, his country of nationality, which he har…
Trump deportee leaves African prison after 14 months under Eswatini’s $5.1 million migration deal
A Laotian man sent by the United States to Eswatini after completing his American prison sentence has been released from detention in the southern African kingdom after more than 14 months, according to his lawyer.
Laotian deportee freed in Eswatini after year under Trump third-country policy
A Laotian man deported by the United States to Eswatini has been released after more than a year in prison. His case has renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration's third-country deportation programme and due process concerns.
Lao man deported by the US to Eswatini is released after more than a year in prison
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A Laotian citizen deported by the United States to Eswatini under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown was released from a maximum-security prison in the African nation on Sunday after being held there for more…
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