Eight criminal immigrants deported by the United States arrived in South Sudan today after being stranded for weeks at a military base in Djibouti, a foreign ministry official told AFP.
Only one of the eight deportees was from South Sudan, but the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to deport unwanted immigrants to third countries because some countries sometimes refuse to accept deportees, AFP reported.
The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the eight men were “brutal, violent illegal criminal immigrants” who had been convicted of crimes such as murder, sexual assault and robbery.
The rest of the group included two Burmese, two Cubans, and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico.
They left the United States for South Sudan in May, but the flight was eventually diverted to Djibouti because a US district court ordered a suspension of deportations to third countries. The US Supreme Court overturned the ruling on the 3rd.
“They arrived in Juba from Djibouti at 5am this morning,” an anonymous South Sudanese official said, adding that they were escorted by U.S. Marines but providing no other details.
“These evil criminals were finally deported to South Sudan on Independence Day,” U.S. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“After weeks of delays by activist judges that put our law enforcement officers in harm’s way, ICE has finally deported eight brutal criminal illegal immigrants whose crimes were so severe that even their own country refused to accept them,” she added.
South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries and is in the midst of a new wave of violent political unrest. South Sudan has long been dangerous even for residents. The U.S. State Department advises citizens not to travel to the country because of frequent violent crime and armed conflict. The United Nations says South Sudan’s political crisis could reignite a brutal civil war that ended in 2018.
Reuters reported that they have been detained in Djibouti by the United States since May, when a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from immediately deporting them to South Sudan on due process issues.
After further litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the 3rd to support the government and lift the relevant restrictions.
Although the courts were closed yesterday for the holiday, the two courts still urgently heard the requests of immigration lawyers. However, Boston District Court Judge Brian Murphy ultimately ruled that the Supreme Court’s order required him to deny the requests, thus clearing the way for their deportation.
The exact location of the eight immigrants after arriving in South Sudan is still unknown.
