The migrants—citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos—had served prison sentences in the U.S. for serious crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the five men as "individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back."

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Tuesday a deportation flight carrying immigrants from different countries had landed in Eswatini, in a move that follows the U.S. Supreme Court lifting limits on deporting migrants to third countries.