Orville E.: Jamaican green card holder deported to Eswatini, isolated in maximum-security prison
Orville Etoria, 62, a Jamaican green card holder who earned a theology degree and worked at a shelter after completing his sentence, was deported to Eswatini instead of Jamaica and held in isolation at a maximum-security prison.
Oct 8, 2026Matsapha, EswatiniCountry of origin: Jamaica
Orville Etoria, a 62-year-old Jamaican man with legal U.S. permanent residence, was deported to Eswatini in July 2025 despite having completed his prison sentence and complied with ICE supervision requirements. After his 2021 release, he lived in New York, earned a master's degree in theology, worked at a men's shelter, and regularly reported to ICE. When ICE asked him to obtain a Jamaican passport, he complied but was instead sent to Eswatini rather than Jamaica, leaving his family without knowledge of his whereabouts for days and his attorneys unable to reach him. Jamaican officials said the country does not refuse repatriation of its nationals. In a later deposition, Etoria described being held in extreme isolation for two and a half weeks at Matsapha Correctional Complex, a maximum-security prison, barred from outside contact and confined to his cell except for meals, saying guards treated detainees 'as if we were violent, even though we had done nothing wrong.'
“Before his shocking deportation, Mr. Etoria had been living in New York, following the law and reporting regularly to ICE under an order of supervision. When ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] asked him to obtain a Jamaican passport earlier this year, he complied. But instead of removing him to Jamaica, as his documentation clearly allowed and as common sense would dictate, the U.S. government inexplicably and illegally sent him to Eswatini,”
“Our position is that we do not refuse any of our nationals, regardless of whatever they have done,”
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- US deportations to third countries shrouded in secrecy
El País·Sep 5, 2025·archived copy
- Third Country Deportation Watch
- American Immigration Council
- Global Security
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