Expert reveals how a tiny African monarchy could play ‘vital role’ in US border security

As the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration, Americans are increasingly seeing little-known countries like the African absolute monarchy in Eswatini making headlines. Despite the obscurity of these small countries, including Eswatini, they could play a “vital role” in US national security, according to a border and immigration expert.

With more than 515,000 total deportations since Inauguration Day and 600,000 expected by the end of President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the administration is on pace to surpass the record number of deportations in a single year.

Even with these large numbers, the administration has been subject to court rulings that have slowed deportations. In many cases, as in the case of alleged MS-13 gang member and Salvadoran illegal Kelmar Abrego Garcia, illegal immigrants can further delay their deportation under the pretext that returning to their home country poses a risk to their safety or well-being.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow on borders and migration at the Heritage Foundation, explained that this is where third-party states come into play.

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He said the ability to continue deporting illegal aliens who claim they are at risk of injury or torture in their home country deprives them of an effective “veto” over deportation. While US immigration law allows these countries to deport third parties, some countries in Europe cannot do the same, leading to disastrous results, Hankinson said.

“With a good lawyer and a lot of BS, even the worst of the worst can stay in European countries where some of them kill people, rape people, do terrible things,” he explained. “So the United States does not want to be in this position.”

He said: “Our law allows us, if we cannot return someone to their home country, to return them to a country in which they have resided for some time, or in which they have previously been protected, or, if necessary, to another country that accepts them and will not torture or otherwise abuse them.”

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White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt posted this photo, writing on X that “deportation flights began” early this year. (white house)

But in the United States, illegal immigrants may continue to claim that they face torture or harm in third countries to which the government proposes to deport them.

“If you look at someone like Kelmar Abrego Garcia, his home country is El Salvador. That’s where he belongs. He was ordered, deported, and got a final order of deportation several years ago, but the judge said you couldn’t send him back to El Salvador. But that was the only exception. He could have been sent anywhere else in the world. Since then, the government has been trying to send him to other countries that will accept him. And in every case, I think so,” Hankinson explained. He claimed that he was threatened with torture or ill-treatment if he went to those countries.”

Then there are rebellious countries that refuse to take back their citizens, as China, Russia and India have done in the past.

As a result, Hankinson said the Trump administration has sought to cooperate with new countries to send deportees to.

“We are the United States, we have influence, and we have the carrot and the stick to try to convince countries to take their people back,” Hankinson said, noting that these third-country agreements could serve as one of those “sticks.”

To date, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of illegal aliens to third countries including El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Eswatini.

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King Mswati III of Eswatini appears in Pretoria, South Africa, May 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Jerome DeLay, File)

On September 5, the Department of Homeland Security sent Abrego Garcia’s lawyers notice that in light of his fears of persecution in 22 other countries, he would be deported to Eswatini.

“It is difficult to take this allegation of fear seriously, especially since you have claimed (through your attorney) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries,” the DHS notice said. “However, we hereby notify you that your new country of deportation is Eswatini, Africa.”

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is a small landlocked country largely surrounded by southern Africa. It has a population of about 1.2 million people and is ruled by the last absolute monarch in Africa, King Mswati III.

Countries like Eswatini could benefit from these mutually beneficial deals, Hankinson said. As the United States gets rid of some of the excess illegal immigrants in the country while third party countries gain America’s goodwill, which may lead to increased trade or aid.

Although the numbers being sent to these third-party countries are small compared to the numbers being sent to their home countries, Hankinson said he believes these operations can be scaled up.

“I think the Trump administration wants to get as many of these deals as possible,” he said. “So, when you get a guy who’s a lawyer like Kilmar, no matter how many times he claims he can’t go to Country A or B or C, out of 195 countries in the world, eventually he’s going to run out, and we’re going to be able to send him somewhere.”

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In this handout photo provided by the Salvadoran government, guards escort inmates allegedly linked to criminal organizations at CECOT on March 16, 2025 in Ticoluca, El Salvador. The Trump administration deported 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organizations Tren De Aragua and Mara Salvatrucha to CECOT. (Salvadoran government via Getty Images)

Hankinson said this capability is “vital” to national security.

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“If an alien has veto power over repatriation, it’s a one-way street. It’s just a ratchet and will never back down again,” he said.

He continued: “There are many people who have been allowed in under the Biden administration, thousands of people, who have criminal records in their homeland that we know nothing about, and who sooner or later will harm American citizens.” “The power of these agreements is that they make everyone understand that one way or another, if you have to leave, we will find someone to take you.”