Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 75

Pro Soccer: Union’s road woes continue, falling at Tulsa

TULSA — A thorn in the side of Monterey Bay FC since its inception has been FC Tulsa.

That trend continued Wednesday as the Union couldn’t make an early one-goal lead stand up, falling 2-1 to the Western Conference leaders in Tulsa.

The setback left the Union winless in five career matches against FC Tulsa at 0-3-2 — one of just a handful of teams that the fourth franchise and never defeated.

Despite the setback, Monterey Bay FC (6-8-4) remains in seventh place in the Western Conference of the United Soccer League Championship with 22 points — just one point from jumping into the top four.

The Union, who have never made the playoffs, have dropped three of their last four matches on the pitch and are 2-6-0 over their last eight games in conference play. The top eight teams in each conference advance to the postseason.

With 12 regular season matches left in the season, the Union won’t return to USL play until August 6 when they host Tulsa. They will visit AV Alta FC on July 26 in their final USL Jägermeister Cup.

Tulsa (8-3-4) has been one of the hottest teams in the USL over the last two months, having gone 4-0-2 over its last six matches to take a one-point lead in the Western Conference with 28 points.

For the second straight week, Tulsa came back from a deficit, producing a pair of goals in a span of two minutes to erase a 1-0 deficit in the 47th and 48th minutes of the match.

Having snapped a three-game skid last week with a 3-2 decision over Orange County, the Union rode that momentum into Tulsa, using a goal from Mayele Malango in the opening minutes to take a 1-0 lead.

Malango, who has four goals on the year, took a pass from USL Team Championship Player of the Week honoree Grant Robinson for a brief lead.

The Union nearly tied the match in the 60th minute when Nicholas Gordon took a pass from Watsonville native Adrian Rebollar and hit the post on a header.

Sitting in third place in the Western Conference when the match began, Tulsa leapfrogged over New Mexico United and second place San Antonio, who were both idle.

As dominant as Monterey Bay FC has been at home this fall (5-2-1), it has struggled on the road in USL play at 1-6-3. Its only win on the road was a 3-0 decision over Orange County back on March 22.

 

Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case

By MELISSA GOLDIN and ERIC TUCKER

Associated Press (AP) — President Donald Trump is countering criticism of the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records around the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, trying to place blame on former government officials.

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On Tuesday, he accused former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, of making up such documents.

“I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden … ,” Trump told members of the press at the White House before departing for an event in Pennsylvania.

The president on Wednesday posted on Truth Social blaming Democrats in general for a “new SCAM” that “we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”

Epstein was arrested in 2019 and found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month later. Investigators concluded that he killed himself.

Trump presented no evidence in claiming that Democrats and Comey tampered with documents related to Epstein’s case. Comey was fired in 2017, two years before Epstein’s arrest, and has not returned to the government since. Obama was long gone from the White House by the time of Epstein’s death. During Biden’s presidency, the Justice Department put on trial Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and secured a conviction against her, but there is zero indication that he or anyone from the White House had anything at any point to do with that case.

Comey was a Republican for most of his adult life, but said in 2016 that he was that he was no longer registered with the party.

Trump suggested last year that he was considering releasing information about the Epstein case if he won a second term. In February, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. Then, earlier this month, it acknowledged that a months-long review of additional evidence in the government’s possession had not revealed a list of clients and said no more files related to the case — other than a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself — would be made public. The announcement led to outcry from Trump supporters.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to intimate in a Fox News interview in February that a client list was “sitting on my desk” to be reviewed for release. She said last week that she was referring to the Epstein case file generally, as opposed to an actual client list. Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino then had a contentious conversation at the White House as backlash grew to the Justice Department’s decision to withhold records.

Trump, members of his administration and conservative influencers have spread unsubstantiated claims surrounding Epstein for years. Conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death are a popular trope in right-wing spheres, playing on Trump’s repeated promises to reveal and dismantle the “deep state” — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes.

Trump’s rivals have recently taken advantage of right-wing fissures over Epstein. Several Democratic lawmakers are calling for the release of all Epstein files and suggesting Trump could be resisting because he or someone close to him is featured in them.

Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a prosecutor in the federal cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

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There was no specific reason given for her firing from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, according to one of the people who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Her termination comes shortly after she prosecuted Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses.

The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear. He was abruptly fired by Trump during his first administration in 2017.

Federal judge says she would block Trump’s birthright citizenship order nationwide

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland could soon become the second to block President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide, if an appeals court were to allow it.

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U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said in an opinion Wednesday that she would grant class action status on behalf of all children affected by the order and grant a preliminary injunction blocking it. But she did not immediately rule, noting a previous decision of hers to block the order was on appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court and that court would have to return the case to her.

Boardman said an immediate ruling from her would “promote judicial efficiency and economy because it would enable the Fourth Circuit to consider the merits of a class-wide preliminary injunction sooner rather than later.”

A federal judge in New Hampshire issued a ruling last week prohibiting Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide.

U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante issued a preliminary injunction and certified a class action lawsuit including all children who will be affected. The order, which followed an hour-long hearing, included a seven-day stay to allow for appeal.

The decision put the birthright citizenship issue on a fast track to return to the Supreme Court. The justices could be asked to rule whether the order complies with their decision last month that limited judges’ authority to issue nationwide injunctions. The high court said that district judges generally can’t issue nationwide, or universal, injunctions. But it didn’t rule out whether judges could accomplish it through a class action lawsuit.

Trump’s January order would deny citizenship to infants born to parents living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily.

Imjin Parkway project shifts focus to Abrams Drive area in Marina

MARINA – Construction work on the Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project in Marina shifted its focus to the Abrams Drive area this week as it continues to transform the travel artery between the Salinas area and the Monterey Peninsula.

The Imjin Parkway project affects 1.7 miles of Imjin Parkway from Reservation Road to Imjin Road and will include the construction of four roundabouts and increase the stretch of roadway to four lanes. Completion of the project is expected to be June 2026.

From now until July 25, day work will complete forming and placing concrete for sidewalks at Abrams Drive on the south side, complete all median curb and curb and gutter tie-ins (work that could not be done by machine), complete fine grading for base rock for south side of Imjin Parkway roadway section from the Food and Fuel Mart driveway to Preston Drive (including Abrams Drive on the south side), install the remaining electrical conduit on Abrams Drive on the south side, among other things.

Abrams Drive on the south side access to the Food and Fuel Mart has been restored to non-thru traffic. Imjin Parkway to Reservation Road – double right turn has been reduced to one lane. The Christina Williams Memorial access is by escort only. Contact Conner Schivo, Monterey Peninsula Engineering at (831) 277-0137, or conner@MPE2000, or city of Marina, mmowery@cityofmarina.org, for access.

The enforceable speed limit through the construction zone is 25 mph and the recommended speed limit through roundabouts during construction is 15 mph.

No night work is scheduled from now through July 25.

Future construction activity and information includes, coordinate Pacific Gas and Electric Company work at Abrams Drive on the south side, beginning on July 28 continue paving first layer of asphalt for the Imjin Parkway south roadbed from Abrams Drive to Reservation Road (including Abrams Drive on the south side) with the aim to re-open Abrams Drive on the south side in mid to late August.

The Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project is a two-year effort to widen and increase safety on a traffic artery for about 30,000 daily motorists moving between the Salinas area and the Monterey Peninsula.

The Imjin Parkway project moved into phase two in early March with traffic now moving on the newly constructed north side of the parkway as work focuses on the south side.

Once phase two is complete, phase three will be miscellaneous roadwork, including demolishing temporary paving, roadway paving and temporary striping, drainage utilities and lighting and grading.

Phase four will be final paving — top lift — and striping.

Upon completion, the Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project will add on-street buffered bike lanes, stormwater treatment areas, retaining walls and a sound wall.

The improvements aim to benefit commuters who travel through the corridor, as well as those who live along Imjin Parkway at Cal State Monterey Bay and the neighboring homes in Marina Heights, Sea Haven and Preston Park.

The city of Marina is the lead agency for the project, which is also the second regional Transportation Agency for Monterey County Measure X project to be built. Measure X was the November 2016 ballot measure approved by 67.7% of Monterey County voters for the Transportation Agency’s Transportation Safety and Investment Plan.

The Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project’s $40.5 million in funding sources include $2 million from Marina generated from development impact fees, around $18.2 million from Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Measure X and about $20.2 million from California’s SB1 local partnership program.

To stay informed about the Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project, visit the project website at www.imjinparkway.com or call Edrie De Los Santos, Marina, at (831) 884-1212.

Federal lawsuit seeks to stop ICE agents from arresting people at immigration courts

By MARTHA BELLISLE

A group immigrants and legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting migrants who appear at immigration courts for previously scheduled hearings and placing them on a fast-track to deportation.

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The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under U.S. immigration law and the Fifth Amendment.

The large-scale immigration court arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant while ICE officers wait in the hallway to take them into custody.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is “weaponizing” immigration courts and chilling participation in the legal process.

”People seeking refuge, safety, or relief should not be arrested, detained, and deported without a chance to be heard and given due process,” Perryman said in a statement.

Federal agents talk to each other outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building on Thursday, July 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Messages seeking comment from ICE, Homeland Security and the Justice Department were not immediately returned. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the courts, declined to comment.

President Donald Trump has pledged to deport the most dangerous criminals in the largest deportation program in American history to protect law-abiding citizens, but government data on the detentions show that the majority of people detained by ICE have no criminal convictions.

The lawsuit represents 12 people who have been arrested at court hearings, along with the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative and American Gateways, which provide legal services to people who face potential arrest and deportation when they comply with their immigration proceedings by attending a court hearing.

Some of the immigrants have lived in the United States for years and were separated from family members, some who were U.S. citizens, without notice, the lawsuit said. Others fled persecution in their home countries and requested asylum. But those requests were quashed when the government lawyer dismissed their case.

Priyanka Gandhi-Abriano, interim CEO for Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, said the arrests are a deliberate attempt to intimidate people.

“Our friends, neighbors, and families are told to ‘do it the right way’ — to follow the legal process,” Gandhi-Abriano said in a statement. “They’re doing just that — showing up to court, complying with the law. Despite this, they’re being arrested and detained.”

Federal agents stand outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Homeland Security officials have defended the practice, saying the Trump administration is implementing the rule of law after former President Joe Biden’s “catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.”

They said if a person has a credible fear claim, they can continue in the immigration proceedings, but if not claim is found, they’ll be subject to swift deportation.

Keren Zwick, director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center said, “We are witnessing an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. immigration court system by the Trump administration.”

The people attending the hearings to seek permission to stay in the U.S., but they’re being rounded up and “abruptly ripped from their families, homes and livelihoods.”

“Meanwhile, the administration is issuing directives telling immigration judges to violate those same immigration laws and strip people of fundamental due process rights,” Zwick said. “We must continue fighting to overcome the administration’s escalating attacks on the U.S. Constitution and rule of law.”

The online gunseller with Donald Trump Jr. on its board makes its market debut. Shares plunge

By MATT OTT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Online firearms seller GrabAGun Digital Holdings, with the stock ticker “PEW,” made its market debut on Wednesday after board member and son of the U.S. president, Donald Trump Jr., rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

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Shares of GrabAGun spiked at first but then sank, closing down nearly 24%.

GrabAGun, which also sells ammunition and firearm accessories on its website, went public through a merger with a special acquisition company, or SPAC, named Colombier Acquisition Corp. The Palm Beach, Florida, company said the transaction netted it more than $119 million, which GrabAGun said will be used for working capital and “other purposes to accelerate the company’s future growth.”

Special acquisition companies, sometimes called “blank check” companies, can give startups quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly, while avoiding the traditional scrutiny that comes with a more standard IPO.

Corporate interest in having Trump Jr. as a member of the board accelerated upon his father’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump Jr. had been named to one board seat between 2020 and 2025, and that was his father’s Trump Media & Technology Group in 2022.

Since Election Day in November 2024, Trump Jr. has been named to the board of directors at five companies, including GrabAGun.

GrabAGun board member Donald Trump, Jr., second from right, CEO Marc Nemati, fourth from right, and others ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)GrabAGun CEO Marc Nemati poses for a picture on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Show Caption1 of 2GrabAGun board member Donald Trump, Jr., second from right, CEO Marc Nemati, fourth from right, and others ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Expand

There are clear benefits that come with the name.

Trump Jr. was named to the board of drone maker Unusual Machines in the same month that his father was elected. Shares in the company tripled in the days after the announcement.

Shares of the so-called “anti-woke” online marketplace PSQ Holdings, doing business as PublicSquare, more than tripled after it named Trump Jr. to its board in early December.

In February, the financial advisory firm Dominari Holdings named Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trump to an advisory board, sending its shares from around $3 to $13 in a matter of days.

High School girls water polo: Santa Catalina’s Connolly to sign with UC Davis

MONTEREY – The process at times felt like a marketing pitch for Quinn Connolly. As prospective colleges began to seek her water polo services, preparation also meant selling a school on her as well.

While a school record 155 goals last season at Santa Catalina was the bait, Connolly also brought an attitude of team culture to the table, while exhibiting tireless work habits.

“The recruiting process is so taxing,” Connolly said. “You are talking to coaches, putting yourself out there. You have to sell yourself. You’re telling them ‘you want me on your team.'”

Yet, it still had to be a mutual fit. A handful of colleges met her criteria. Just one grabbed her heart as Connolly verbally committed to UC Davis for 2026.

“The three things at the top of my list were team coaching, team chemistry and team culture,” Connolly said. “I’ve been there three times. It’s a great fit for me.”

Santa Catalina's Quinn Connolly led the county in goals scored last season with over 100. (Courtesy photo)

Connolly, who will begin her senior season 20 goals shy of 300 for her career, evolved last fall for the Cougars, becoming just the third player in school history to produce over 100 goals in a season.

Having led the county in goals last fall, Connolly was one of two players to produce over 100 goals, joining Stevenson’s Emmerson Ferriera, who will be at UC Santa Barbara this fall.

“I wouldn’t be here with the support of my parents, coaches and teammates,” Connolly said. “A lot of people have helped me along this journey. I want to show up this year for my teammates and help them get opportunities to excel in the pool.”

More than 20 colleges reached out to Connolly before the 17-year-old narrowed her choices to five schools. Her decision came three weeks before the start of her senior season.

“It was fun to talk to the coaches and players, get their perspectives and meet new people,” Connolly said. “Once I narrowed it down to five schools, it got a little more stressful. There is this sense of relief.”

Connolly was recruited by UC Davis as an attacker, where she will be asked to distribute, while continuing to get opportunities to produce goals.

“I think they see me as someone that can add to their culture,” Connolly said. “I meshed well with the team on my visits. I have a strong foundation playing on the outside from my club team in Santa Cruz. That determined a lot in my decision.”

The last player from Santa Catalina to play water polo at UC Davis was Brita Sigourney, who went on to win a bronze medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics in freestyle skiing.

Connolly is adding to the legacy of the family, as her dad played water polo at Cal, while her mom played volleyball on the Berkeley campus.

“I always knew I wanted to play sports in college,” Connolly said. “I’m proud to say I’m a fifth-generation collegiate athlete.”

Playing softball as a youth, having a background in the mechanics of throwing a ball transferred over to water polo when she took up the sport eight years ago.

“I had a background with the throwing part,” Connolly said. “I grew up swimming. But I never loved it like water polo. I just like the team aspect. And I love being in the water.”

Connolly will spend her senior season playing alongside her sister Taylor, who handed out 34 assists last year as a freshman, many of which went to her sister.

“Our communication is great because we always talk to each other,” Connolly said. “Taylor had a lot of my assists. We just have a great connection, a feel for each other.”

While Connolly has a plan each time she sends a ball whistling through the water, there are moments when adjustments are made as she catapults herself out of the water.

“Normally, I know where I’m going,” Connolly said. “A lot of times it is a read when the ball is in your hands. Can I make the goalie jump when faking shots? Do I skip it off the water, or lob it over the blockers? Scoring is a relief of tension, yet feels so amazing.”

There are no goals in terms of breaking school records. The objective for Connolly is to improve her decision-making while helping her team raise the bar for others to follow.

Last year, Santa Catalina won 14 matches, finishing in a tie for second in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division behind perennial power Stevenson to reach the postseason.

“One of our goals is to make the playoffs,” said Connolly, who also led the Cougars in steals last year with 46. “But also to grow our team and our culture to be tight.”

20 states sue FEMA for canceling grant program that guards against natural disasters

By DAVID A. LIEB

Twenty Democratic-led states filed suit Wednesday against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant program that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters.

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The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump’s administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. FEMA canceled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress.

“In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it’s clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was filed. “By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC program, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents and, in the event of disaster, save lives.”

FEMA did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. It said in April that the program was “wasteful and ineffective” and “more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

The program, established by a 2000 law, provides grants for a variety of disaster mitigation efforts, including levees to protect against floods, safe rooms to provide shelter from tornadoes, vegetation management to reduce damage from fires and seismic retrofitting to fortify buildings for earthquakes.

During his first term, Trump signed a law shoring up funding for disaster risk reduction efforts. The program then got a $1 billion boost from an infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden. That law requires FEMA to make available at least $200 million annually for disaster mitigation grants for the 2022-2026 fiscal years, the lawsuit says.

The suit contends the Trump administration violated the constitutional separation of powers because Congress had not authorized the program’s demise. It also alleges the program’s termination was illegal because the decision was made while FEMA was under the leadership of an acting administrator who had not met the requirements to be in charge of the agency.

The lawsuit says communities in every state have benefited from federal disaster mitigation grants, which saved lives and spared homes, businesses, hospitals and schools from costly damage.

Some communities have already been affected by the decision to end the program.

Hillsborough, North Carolina, had been awarded nearly $7 million to relocate a wastewater pumping station out of a flood plain and make other water and sewer system improvements. But that hadn’t happened yet when the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal damaged the pumping station and forced it offline last week.

In rural Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, town officials had hoped to use more than $4 million from the BRIC program to improve stormwater drainage and safeguard a vulnerable electric system, thus protecting investments in a historic theater and other businesses. While the community largely supports Trump, assistant town manager Erin Burris said people were blindsided by the lost funding they had spent years pursuing.

“I’ve had downtown property owners saying, ‘What do we do?’” Burris said. “I’ve got engineering plans ready to go and I don’t have the money to do it.”

Associated Press reporters Jack Brook, Michael Casey and Gary D. Robertson contributed to this report.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

US sends third-country deportees under secrecy to the small African kingdom of Eswatini

By GERALD IMRAY and MICHELLE GUMEDE, Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United States has sent five men to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s largely secretive third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.

The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African nation, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men are after they arrived nearly two weeks ago.

In a late-night post on X, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the men sent to Eswatini, who are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos, had arrived on a plane, but didn’t say when or where.

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She said they were all convicted criminals and “individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”

The men “have been terrorizing American communities” but were now “off of American soil,” McLaughlin added.

McLaughlin said they had been convicted of crimes including murder and child rape and one was a “confirmed” gang member.

Like in South Sudan, there was no immediate comment from Eswatini authorities over any deal to accept third-country deportees or what would happen to them in that country. Civic groups there raised concerns over the secrecy from a government long accused of clamping down on human rights.

“There has been a notable lack of official communication from the Eswatini government regarding any agreement or understanding with the U.S. to accept these deportees,” Ingiphile Dlamini, a spokesperson for the pro-democracy group SWALIMO, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “This opacity makes it difficult for civic society to understand the implications.”

It wasn’t clear if they were being held in a detention center, what their legal status was or what Eswatini’s plans were for the deported men, he said.

An absolute monarchy

Eswatini, previously called Swaziland, is a country of about 1.2 million people between South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies and the last in Africa. King Mswati III has ruled by decree since 1986.

FILE – Eswatini’s King Mswati III addresses the Climate Action Summit in the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

Political parties are effectively banned and pro-democracy groups have said for years that Mswati III has crushed political dissent, sometimes violently. Groups like SWALIMO have called for democratic reforms.

Pro-democracy protests erupted in Eswatini in 2021, when dozens were killed, allegedly by security forces. Eswatini authorities have been accused of conducting political assassinations of pro-democracy activists and imprisoning others.

Because Eswatini is a poor country with a relative lack of resources, it “may face significant strain in accommodating and managing individuals with complex backgrounds, particularly those with serious criminal convictions,” Dlamini said.

While the U.S. administration has hailed deportations as a victory for the safety and security of the American people, Dlamini said his organization wanted to know the plans for the five men sent to Eswatini and “any potential risks to the local population.”

US is seeking more deals

The Trump administration has said it is seeking more deals with African nations to take deportees from the U.S. Leaders from some of the five West African nations who met last week with President Donald Trump at the White House said the issue of migration and their countries possibly taking deportees from the U.S. was discussed.

Some nations have pushed back. Nigeria, which wasn’t part of that White House summit, said it has rejected pressure from the U.S. to take deportees who are citizens of other countries.

The U.S. also has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, but has identified Africa as a continent where it might strike more deals.

Rwanda’s foreign minister told the AP last month that talks were underway with the U.S. about a potential agreement to host deported migrants. Last year, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled a British government plan announced in 2022 to deport rejected asylum-seekers to the East African nation of Rwanda was illegal.

‘Not a dumping ground’

The eight men deported by the U.S. to war-torn South Sudan, where they arrived early this month, previously spent weeks at a U.S. military base in nearby Djibouti, located on the northeast border of Ethiopia, as the case over the legality of sending them there played out.

The South Sudanese government has not released details of its agreement with the U.S. to take deportees, nor has it said what will happen to the men. A prominent civil society leader there said South Sudan was “not a dumping ground for criminals.”

Analysts say some African nations might be willing to take third-country deportees in return for more favorable treatment from the U.S. in negotiations over tariffs, foreign aid and restrictions on travel visas.

Gumede reported from Johannesburg.