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Eight individuals deported from the United States — many with serious criminal convictions — arrived in South Sudan on Saturday after being stranded at a military base in Djibouti for several weeks, a South Sudanese foreign ministry official confirmed.
Though only one of the deportees is a South Sudanese national, the US government under President Donald Trump has been pursuing the removal of unwanted migrants to third countries, as many nations have refused to accept their own citizens back.
The US Department of Homeland Security described the men as “barbaric, violent criminal illegal aliens”, with convictions including murder, sexual assault, and robbery. The group includes two nationals from Myanmar, two from Cuba, and one each from Vietnam, Laos, and Mexico.
They were initially deported in May and bound for South Sudan, but the flight was diverted to Djibouti after a US district court issued a stay on deportations to third countries. That decision was overturned by the Supreme Court on Thursday, allowing the removals to proceed.
“They arrived in Juba at around 5:00am today from Djibouti,” a South Sudanese official told AFP, speaking anonymously. He said the group had been flown in by US Marines but declined to offer further details.
In a statement, US Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said: “These sickos were finally deported to South Sudan on Independence Day. After weeks of delays by activist judges that put our law enforcement at risk, ICE deported these eight barbaric criminal illegal aliens who are so heinous even their own countries refuse to accept them.”
South Sudan, one of the most impoverished and unstable countries in the world, is currently grappling with renewed political unrest.
Since returning to office in January, President Trump has intensified efforts to speed up deportations, fulfilling his campaign promise to crack down on undocumented migrants.
