The USA authorities has revoked existing visas issued to all South Sudanese passport holders and barred additional entries of the nation’s nationals as a consequence of a failed deportation case, signalling an escalation of the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.
In an announcement on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed the transitional authorities of the African nation for an absence of “full cooperation” and accused South Sudan of “taking benefit” of Washington. It’s the primary such blanket sanction on any nation since President Donald Trump took workplace in January.
South Sudanese officers haven’t reacted to the brand new ban. In posts on social media, nonetheless, some South Sudanese accused the US of “bullying” and utilizing collective punishment.
The East African nation, Africa’s youngest, is at the moment reeling from a new conflict between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar. The United Nations has warned of the danger of a return to all-out civil struggle if tensions proceed to rise.
Right here’s what you must find out about why the US imposed the visa ban and the way South Sudanese nationals may very well be affected:
What did the US accuse South Sudan of?
Rubio implied in his statement that South Sudan’s authorities has refused to take again residents who had been deported from the US. The matter, he mentioned, concerned US nationwide safety and warranted the visa revocations and ban.
“Each nation should settle for the return of its residents in a well timed method when one other nation, together with the US, seeks to take away them,” the assertion learn.
In a extra detailed account on X, additionally on Saturday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau alleged that South Sudan had refused to take again one particular person presumed to be from the African nation as a result of officers there had decided him to be Congolese after he arrived in Juba. It’s believed the nation accepted a number of different returned folks besides the deportee in query.
Landau claimed that the person had, on February 13, been verified as South Sudanese by the nation’s embassy in Washington, DC. He additionally mentioned the embassy issued an emergency journey letter that the US relied on to ship the deportee on a flight to Juba. Nevertheless, upon arrival there, South Sudanese officers decided that he was not truly from the nation and returned him to the US, Landau mentioned.
Let there be no mistake: the Administration of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump is dedicated to strong enforcement of our Nation’s immigration legal guidelines, and expects all different international locations to just accept repatriation of their very own nationals. The Authorities of South Sudan has violated this obligation by…
— Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) April 5, 2025
“Clearly, at that time, it’s unacceptable and irresponsible for South Sudanese authorities officers to second guess the dedication of their very own Embassy – so far as we’re involved, the Embassy’s certification is conclusive and the matter is closed,” Landau mentioned in his posts.
“We can’t have a repatriation system that permits overseas governments to reopen and relitigate eligibility for repatriation after these very governments had beforehand licensed such eligibility and a person has been repatriated,” he added.
What has South Sudan mentioned?
South Sudan’s authorities has not publicly commented on the US actions.
Native media reported that 24 South Sudanese nationals have been initially deported from the US and one had been returned as a result of he was decided to not be South Sudanese by immigration officers.
In an unverified video posted on Fb by a South Sudanese weblog, Abeyeinthony Media, a person claiming to be the deportee in query is seen being interrogated by individuals who gave the impression to be South Sudanese officers, probably in Juba’s airport.
The person, who claimed to be Makula Kintu from North Kivu within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), mentioned he believed his mother and father have been initially from Sudan however he was born within the DRC in 1977. At the moment, South Sudan was nonetheless a part of Sudan. It gained independence in 2011.
The person mentioned he didn’t select to journey to South Sudan. “I got here to South Sudan, one as a result of I used to be deported in opposition to my will,” the person, who additionally mentioned he was orphaned as a baby and was introduced up by missionaries, advised officers. “There was allegation that I used to be being extradited by the federal government of South Sudan as a result of (of) my mother and father.”
Who will probably be impacted?
The battle in South Sudan that erupted in 2011 after its independence from Sudan compelled tens of millions of individuals to flee the nation. In 2013, the violence escalated right into a full-blown civil struggle, sparked by tensions between Kiir and his deputy Machar. It led to 2018 after a peace deal was reached, however sporadic violence has continued.
Many South Sudanese now reside in neighbouring African international locations in addition to within the US, Canada and Australia. An estimated 100,000 South Sudanese have been residing within the US by 2007, in response to a South Sudanese official on the time. It’s unclear what number of have been visa holders and what number of have been naturalised Individuals.
About 133 South Sudanese have been beforehand granted non permanent protected standing by former President Barack Obama’s administration in 2011 as a consequence of ongoing, sporadic battle within the nation. The categorisation grants work and residency rights to residents of sure international locations deemed unsafe as a consequence of battle and pure disasters, together with Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Cameroon and a handful of different international locations.
In 2023, President Joe Biden’s administration extended the standing by 18 months to Might 3 this 12 months as a consequence of “violence and human rights abuses affecting civilians, in addition to environmental, well being, and meals safety considerations”.
One other 140 South Sudanese nationals who’d been residing within the US since September 2023 have been additionally eligible to use for the protected standing.
Scores, if not a whole bunch, of South Sudanese examine in US colleges, a lot of them on scholarships.
South Sudan’s basketball workforce, Africa’s finest rated, additionally has a number of members dwelling and taking part in within the US. Standout participant Khaman Maluach of Duke College, who had been anticipated to affix the NBA this 12 months, is a type of who may very well be affected by the Trump administration’s visa revocation.
In an announcement, the college mentioned it was “conscious of the announcement”.
“We’re trying into the scenario and dealing expeditiously to know any implications for Duke college students,” spokesman Frank Tramble mentioned.
Why does the US visa ban matter for South Sudan now?
Though wealthy in petroleum sources, South Sudan is one in all Africa’s poorest international locations. The 2013-2018 civil struggle, which killed greater than 400,000 folks and displaced about 4 million, has contributed to sluggish financial progress and political instability.
Though the 2018 power-sharing settlement between Kiir and Machar stopped heavy combating, tensions and sporadic violence have lingered. Some causes of rigidity embrace key parts of the deal that stay unimplemented: the creation of a brand new structure and the unification of armed teams right into a single military. The nation has additionally not held elections as was agreed with Kiir’s officers suspending polls twice, citing an absence of financing.
Since March, components of the nation have once more descended into violence, and tensions have as soon as extra risen between Kiir and Machar. The hostilities adopted lethal clashes between the White Military, an armed group in Nasir County within the northeastern state of Higher Nile, and the Kiir-aligned South Sudanese military.
A big military deployment within the White Military’s strongholds is believed to have sparked rumours of a deliberate compelled disarmament of native teams and prompted the clashes. The group reportedly overran a military base, leading to casualties. Based on the UN, the South Sudanese military used barrel bombs, believed to include a extremely flammable liquid, in air strikes on White Military places.
Kiir-appointed officers have claimed the armed group, which beforehand fought for Machar through the civil struggle, is being managed by the vp’s occasion – the Sudan Individuals’s Liberation Motion in Opposition (SPLM/IO), though the occasion denied hyperlinks to the most recent disaster. Kiir is head of the ruling Sudan Individuals’s Liberation Motion.
On March 27, Machar was positioned beneath home arrest alongside together with his spouse, Angelina Teny, who’s the nation’s inside minister. A number of members of his SPLM/IO have been arrested or compelled to flee their posts after they have been allegedly focused. The occasion said in an announcement final week that the 2018 deal has in impact collapsed.
Dozens of individuals have reportedly been killed or injured within the Higher Nile clashes. Neighbouring Uganda deployed troops to assist the South Sudanese military early in March.
The US, the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union have expressed considerations over the escalations and urged Machar’s launch. On March 8, the US ordered its nonemergency workers to depart the nation. European international locations like Germany have shut down consular operations there.
Final week, an AU delegation deployed to speak to each leaders was not allowed to see Machar in Juba, in response to Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa. Based on native media, Kiir advised the AU officers that Machar can be investigated and tried in courtroom though no arraignment date has been introduced.
