A recent attempt by the United States to deport South Asian migrants to South Sudan has raised legal and humanitarian concerns, amid renewed political unrest in the world’s youngest country, news reports said. A US federal judge ruled the deportation violated a court order requiring due process for individuals being sent to third countries.
US immigration officials said eight deportees, including individuals from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam, and South Sudan, had been convicted of serious crimes. South Sudan’s police said no migrants had arrived but warned any non-citizens would be investigated and re-deported.
The country, which gained independence in 2011, faces widespread poverty, climate disasters, and escalating political tensions. In March, opposition leader and First Vice President Riek Machar was placed under house arrest after his group, the White Army, attacked government forces, sparking fears of renewed conflict.
Machar’s arrest has strained the 2018 peace deal that ended a civil war which killed an estimated 400,000 people. Meanwhile, President Salva Kiir promoted Second Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, seen as a likely successor.
According to reports, the deportation controversy follows a similar incident in which the US mistakenly sent a Congolese national to South Sudan, heightening tensions between the two nations amid South Sudan’s fragile political environment.
