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An immigrant deported by the US and held in an African prison for more than a year has been released

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Cite

Imray, G. (2026, October 4). An immigrant deported by the US and held in an African prison for more than a year has been released. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/united-states/an-immigrant-deported-by-the-us-and-held-in-an-african-prison-for-more-than-a-year-has-been-released/article_b0963827-351f-59ce-8111-775b3e6213ac.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-10-04 · by Gerald Imray

Quick Summary

Phone Chomsavanh, a Laotian citizen deported by the United States to Eswatini in July 2025 under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program, was released from a maximum security prison in Eswatini after being held for over a year. Chomsavahn had no ties to Eswatini and was never charged with any crime there. His U.S.-based lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, confirmed that he is now being deported to Laos. The article highlights the controversial nature of this program, which has led to about 500 immigrants being sent to African countries they have no connections with; Eswatini received around $5.1 million from the U.S. for accepting deportees.
Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

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 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US Third Country Deportation Release
Politics · 3 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 17% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 63/100
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 4 of 19 claims Outlet record 59/100
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 9 of 58 claims
“The articles describe different individuals and locations of detention.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different events related to deportations but do not refer to the same specific incident.”
Semafor
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 10 claims Outlet record 59/100
“Article A discusses a Supreme Court decision regarding third-country deportations while Article B describes the release of an individual who was deported under this policy, but they do not describe the same specific incident.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A describes multiple secret deals and deportations involving various countries and individuals, while Article B focuses on the release of one individual, Phone Chomsavanh, who was deported to Eswatini.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
17%
3 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 11187 article(s) · 28 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Gerald Imray
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 A Kenyan pastor has been convicted on 191 murder charges after he forced followers to starve their children and themselves so they would die and have an opportunity to enter heaven and be with Jesus.
🔮 Log in Zambia will sign a revised health agreement with the United States that will not include contentious clauses committing the African nation to share patient health data and specimens with the U.S. government.
🔮 The Trump administration has defended the policy as a way to quickly remove immigrants who have final deportation orders from the U.S. when their home countries might not immediately take them back.
Also by Gerald Imray
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

African Eswatini Laos U.S. the United States

Subjects

Eswatini GPE · 9× Chomsavanh PERSON · 7× U.S. GPE · 7× African NORP · 4× the United States GPE · 4× Laos GPE · 3× Nguyen PERSON · 2× the Trump administration’s ORG · 2× CAPE TOWN GPE · 1× South Africa GPE · 1×

Narrative

Chomsavanh and the four other immigrants he was deported to Eswatini with were convicted of serious crimes in the U.S., but had served their sentences by the time they were sent to the Matsapha Correctional Complex near Eswatini’s administrative capital, Mbabane. “Years after he finished serving his sentence in the United States, the Trump administration flew him to the small southern African kingdom and handed him over to a maximum-security prison, where he was held for more than a year without ever being charged with a crime,” Nguyen said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04
🔮 The Trump administration has defended the policy as a way to quickly remove immigrants who have final deportation orders from the U.S. when their home countries might not immediately take them back.

Claims (18 extracted, 3 hedged)

A Laotian citizen deported by the United States to Eswatini under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was released from a maximum security prison in the African nation on Sunday after being held there for more than a year, his lawyer said. asserted
lawyer → deport → year
Phone Chomsavanh was among five immigrants deported to Eswatini — where he has no ties — in July 2025 in the early days of the Trump administration’s secretive and highly contentious third-country deportation program. asserted
he → deport → program
Chomsavanh’s U.S.-based lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, said in a statement announcing his release that he had only been informed that he was being deported to Eswatini shortly before a military cargo plane carrying him and other deportees landed there more than 14 months ago. asserted
plane → say → him
Chomsavanh was now being deported to Laos, Nguyen said. asserted
Nguyen → deport → Laos
Chomsavanh and the four other immigrants he was deported to Eswatini with were convicted of serious crimes in the U.S., but had served their sentences by the time they were sent to the Matsapha Correctional Complex near Eswatini’s administrative capital, Mbabane. “Years after he finished serving his sentence in the United States, the Trump administration flew him to the small southern African kingdom and handed him over to a maximum-security prison, where he was held for more than a year without ever being charged with a crime,” Nguyen said. asserted
Nguyen → deport → crime
He said in separate messages to The Associated Press that Chomsavanh had left Eswatini and landed in Johannesburg en route to Laos. asserted
Chomsavanh → say → Laos
An Eswatini government spokesperson didn’t immediately acknowledge Chomsavanh’s release. asserted
spokesperson → acknowledge → release
Chomsavanh was born in a refugee camp in Thailand after his parents fled Laos, and his family moved to the United States when he was 7, his lawyer said. asserted
lawyer → bear → States
Chomsavanh is one of around 500 immigrants who have been deported from the United States to African countries that aren’t their home nations since the third-country program began last year, according to rights group Human Rights First, which has been monitoring the deportations. uncertain
which → deport → deportations
Around a dozen African countries have accepted third-country deportees from the U.S., some in exchange for millions of dollars in payments. asserted
countries → accept → payments
Eswatini, which is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and is ruled by a king, was paid $5.1 million by the Trump administration to take deportees, according to the agreement between the countries. uncertain
which → rule → countries
Eswatini has received around 30 deportees so far. asserted
Eswatini → receive → deportees
The program, which results in immigrants being held in countries they have no ties with and where they haven’t been charged with any crime, has been fiercely criticized by rights groups and lawyers. asserted
they → result → groups
It has been the subject of legal challenges in the U.S. and in some of the countries where immigrants have been sent. asserted
immigrants → send → countries
The Trump administration has defended the policy as a way to quickly remove immigrants who have final deportation orders from the U.S. when their home countries might not immediately take them back. uncertain
countries → defend → them
Last month, a U.S. appeals court upheld a judge’s ruling to halt the program, because it didn’t give immigrants facing removal from the U.S. time to challenge their deportation to a third country because they fear persecution or torture there. asserted
they → uphold → persecution
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week to temporarily allow U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to continue swiftly removing immigrants to third countries, though it will hear arguments in the case in December. asserted
it → rule → December
The program has largely been carried out in secrecy, with little transparency over how many immigrants have been deported to third countries, and where and in what conditions they are being held. ___ asserted
they → carry → conditions
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