The Trump administration is ending deportation protections for South Sudanese nationals who have been shielded from removal for more than 14 years.
Migrants from South Sudan who arrived in the U.S. as early as 2011 will now be required to leave or face deportation, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notice posted Wednesday. Since returning to office, the Trump administration has moved to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several groups, including Venezuelan, Haitian, and Syrian nationals.
“Under the previous administration, [TPS] was abused to allow violent terrorists, criminals, and national security threats into our nation,” a DHS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “TPS was never designed to be permanent.”
“With the renewed peace in South Sudan, their demonstrated commitment to ensuring the safe reintegration of returning nationals, and improved diplomatic relations, now is the right time to conclude what was always intended to be a temporary designation,” the spokesperson added.
South Sudan was initially designated for TPS in 2011, following its independence from Sudan, according to DHS. The status had been subsequently extended during the Obama, and Biden administrations, as well during Trump’s first term. It was most recently extended during the current Trump administration in May.
The country has long been plagued by civil war and instability, but DHS cited ongoing negotiations between the transitional government and the State Department, along with an improving security environment, as evidence that the country is ready to receive returning citizens.
“Although residual challenges from the civil war remain, there is no longer an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning South Sudanese nationals,” the agency said.
“While there is inter/intra-communal violence linked to border disputes, cross-border violence, cyclical and retaliatory attacks, and ethnic polarization, return to full-scale civil war, to-date, has been avoided,” the agency continued. “Recent diplomatic developments between the U.S. Department of State and South Sudan’s transitional government indicate South Sudan’s willingness to ensure the safety and reintegration of its returning nationals.”
The Trump administration has faced legal challenges over previous TPS revocations. However, the Supreme Court in October handed the administration a victory by allowing it to move forward with ending protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals. In May, a federal appeals court lifted a separate order preventing the DHS from revoking TPS for roughly 60,000 Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Nepali nationals.
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