US replaces Uganda with Eswatini as host for controversial deportee Garcia

The Trump administration has unveiled a plan to send Kilmar Abrego, whose arrest and fight to stay in the US have become a flashpoint in its immigration crackdown, to Eswatini.

A US Department of Homeland Security official said in an email to Abrego's lawyers that Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, has replaced Uganda as the country designated for his deportation.

The official said the change was made because Abrego has stated that he fears persecution or torture in Uganda.

"That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries ... Nonetheless, we hereby notify you that your new country of removal is Eswatini, Africa," the official said in the email.

Abrego, originally from El Salvador and currently being held in an immigration detention centre in Virginia, has no ties to Eswatini, a country bordering South Africa.

The Trump administration's push to send Abrego, 30, to Eswatini is the latest twist in a saga that began in March, when US authorities accused him of being a gang member and sent him to an El Salvadoran prison despite an order from a US judge prohibiting his deportation to his native country.

Abrego was brought back in June to face criminal charges of transporting migrants living in the United States illegally. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have accused the administration of vindictive prosecution.

Ineligible for asylum