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Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian man with no ties to Eswatini, was released from prison after 14 months following his deportation there in July 2025 under President Trump's third-country deportation program. He had previously served time for crimes in the US and was deported along with four others on a military cargo plane without being informed of their destination. The United States has used this controversial program, which involves payments to African countries like Eswatini ($5.1 million), to deport around 500 immigrants who are described as "criminal illegal aliens." Rights groups criticize the practice for lacking due process and dropping individuals into unfamiliar legal systems.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian citizen who was deported from the United States under former President Trump's third-country deportation program, has been released after being held for over 14 months in a maximum-security prison in Eswatini. He had no ties to Eswatini and was only informed of his deportation shortly before it occurred. Chomsavanh and four other deportees were sent there despite having completed their sentences in the U.S. for serious crimes. The Trump administration's policy aimed to quickly remove immigrants who have final deportation orders but whose home countries might not immediately accept them back. Chomsavanh is now scheduled to be deported to Laos.
Written for “US Third Country Deportation Release” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
Leaning: leans left for article 56897 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-10-05
A Laotian man deported by the US to the African kingdom of Eswatini has been released from prison, ending an ordeal lasting for more than a year in a country where he has no ties.
Phone Chomsavanh was deported in July 2025 along with four other people under president Donald Trump’s contentious third-country deportation programme.
Mr Chomsavanh, who had arrived in the US as a minor, had no connection with Eswatini.
His American lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, said Mr Chomsavanh had only been informed that he was being deported to Eswatini shortly before a military cargo plane carrying him landed in the African nation.
asserted
plane → deport → nation
Mr Chomsavanh was freed from the maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Complex near the administrative capital Mbabane after 14 months, pending his deportation to Laos, according to Mr Nguyen.
uncertain
Chomsavanh → free → Nguyen
Mr Chomsavanh and the four fellow immigrants deported to Eswatini with him were convicted of serious crimes in the US, but had served their sentences by the time they put were on the military aircraft.
asserted
they → deport → aircraft
“He’d already served his time,” the lawyer said.
asserted
lawyer → serve → 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.”
asserted
nobody → put → anything
“He sat there for more than a year.
asserted
He → sit → year
The US had described the deportees as “criminal illegal aliens”.
asserted
US → describe → aliens
“This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for homeland security, said at the time.
asserted
McLaughlin → take → time
Mr Chomsavanh was born in a refugee camp in Thailand to parents who had fled Laos.
asserted
who → bear → Laos
His family had moved to the US when he was seven, his lawyer said.
asserted
lawyer → move → US
Thousands of Laotian families affected by the relentless American bombing of their country during the Vietnam war were resettled in the US.
asserted
Thousands → affect → US
Mr Chomsavanh is one of around 500 immigrants who have been deported to African countries that aren’t their home nations since the third-country programme began last year, according to advocacy groups Human Rights First and Refugees International.
uncertain
programme → deport → groups
About a dozen African countries have accepted third-country immigrants from the US so far, some in exchange for millions of dollars in payments.
asserted
countries → accept → payments
Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy ruled by a king, has received $5.1m from the US to take some of the deportees, according to an agreement between the two countries.
uncertain
Eswatini → rule → countries
In July this year, Amnesty International said at least 25 more people had been removed from the US to Eswatini under the same arrangement.
asserted
people → say → arrangement
The third-country programme, which sees immigrants deported to places they have no ties to, has been fiercely criticised by rights groups and lawyers.
asserted
they → see → groups
It has been the subject of legal challenges in the US and in some of the countries where immigrants have been sent.
asserted
immigrants → send → countries
The Trump administration has defended the policy as a means to quickly remove immigrants who have received their final deportation orders but whose home countries might not immediately want to take them back.
uncertain
countries → defend → them
Last month, a US appeals court upheld a judge’s ruling to halt the programme because it did not give immigrants facing removal from the US time to challenge their deportation to a third country if they feared persecution or torture there.
asserted
they → uphold → persecution
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