Jamaica native deported by DHS and imprisoned in Eswatini repatriated to home country

"A New York man who was deported two months ago from the U.S. to Eswatini has now returned to his native Jamaica, where he has not lived since childhood. The deportation of Orville Isaac Etoria, 62, was carried out under the Trump administration's "third-country deportation policy," which means that undocumented immigrants could be deported to other countries, rather than their country of origin. Etoria served 25 years in prison after being convicted of fatally shooting a man in Brooklyn, according to The New York Times."

"But through the Hudson Link program and Mercy College, he was able to study and received a bachelor's degree in prison. He had also begun a Master's Degree program with Union Theological Seminary. However, in 2009, he was stripped of his legal permanent resident status while still serving his prison term when an immigration judge issued a final order of removal, leaving him without documented status in the United States."

"When he was released in 2021, he was able to stay in the country if he checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regularly, which he had done. After serving time and finishing his parole, he walked free in New York and worked as a case manager at a men's shelter. Earlier in 2025, ICE required that he obtain a passport from Jamaica, which the nation issued to him. But rather than allow him to pursue a path to citizenship, Etoria was detained during his yearly check-in and deported to Eswatini, a nation in Southern Africa with which he has no ties and has never lived."

Orville Isaac Etoria, 62, was deported from the U.S. under a Trump-era third-country deportation policy and sent to Eswatini despite having no ties there. He served 25 years in prison for a fatal Brooklyn shooting, earned a bachelor's degree through prison education programs and began a master's program. An immigration judge issued a final order in 2009 stripping his legal permanent resident status while he was incarcerated. After release in 2021 he complied with ICE check-ins and worked as a case manager. In 2025 he obtained a Jamaican passport, was detained at a check-in, deported to Eswatini, imprisoned without charge for two and a half months, and repatriated to Jamaica on September 28.

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