Laotian man deported by U.S. to Eswatini released after over a year in prison

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian citizen deported by the United States to Eswatini, was released from a maximum-security prison on Sunday after being held for more than a year, according to his lawyer. Chomsavanh was one of five immigrants deported to Eswatini in July 2025 as part of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program. His lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, stated that Chomsavanh was informed of his deportation shortly before arriving in Eswatini. Chomsavanh is now being deported back to Laos. He and the other deportees had previously served their sentences for serious crimes in the U.S. before being sent to the Matsapha Correctional Complex near Mbabane, Eswatini. Nguyen criticized the lack of due process in Chomsavanh's case, stating, "He had already served his time. Instead they put him on a plane without telling him where it was headed and left him in a prison in a country he had never heard of, where nobody ever accused him of anything." An Eswatini government spokesperson did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding Chomsavanh's release. Chomsavanh was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and moved to the U.S. at the age of 7. Advocacy groups report that around 500 immigrants have been deported from the U.S. to African countries under the third-country program since its inception. Eswatini has accepted around 30 deportees and received $5.1 million from the Trump administration for this arrangement. The program has faced criticism from rights groups and legal challenges in the U.S. and other countries. A U.S. appeals court recently upheld a ruling to halt the program due to concerns about immigrants not having sufficient time to challenge their deportations. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to continue the program temporarily while it considers the case.