US revokes all visas for South Sudanese over nation’s failure to repatriate residents | US information

Washington is revoking all visas for South Sudanese passport holders and blocking new arrivals, secretary of state Marco Rubio stated on Saturday, complaining the African nation isn’t accepting its nationals expelled from the US.

The state division “is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and forestall additional issuance to forestall entry”, Rubio stated in a press release.

It was the primary such measure singling out all passport holders from a selected nation since Donald Trump returned to the White Home on 20 January, having campaigned on an anti-immigration platform.

Rubio accused the transitional authorities in Juba of “benefiting from the USA”, saying that “each nation should settle for the return of its residents in a well timed method when one other nation … seeks to take away them.”

Washington “can be ready to assessment these actions when South Sudan is in full cooperation”, Rubio added.

The world’s latest nation and in addition one of many poorest, South Sudan is at present prey to tensions between political leaders.

Some observers worry a renewal of the civil conflict that killed 400,000 folks between 2013 and 2018.

South Sudanese nationals had been granted “short-term protected standing” (TPS) by the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, with the designation set to run out on 3 Might 2025.

The US grants TPS, which shields folks towards deportation, to international residents who can not safely return dwelling due to conflict, pure disasters or different “extraordinary” situations.

There have been about 133 South Sudanese within the US beneath the TPS program, with one other 140 eligible to use, the Division of Homeland Safety stated in September 2023.

However the Trump White Home has begun overturning TPS designations, revoking safety in January from greater than 600,000 Venezuelans.

A federal choose this week put that call on maintain after calling into query the federal government’s claims that almost all of Venezuelans within the US had been criminals.

In response to the Pew Analysis Middle, as of March 2024 there have been 1.2 million folks eligible for or receiving TPS within the US, with Venezuelans making up the most important group.

The Trump administration’s singling out of South Sudan additionally comes after rising numbers of Africans tried to enter the US by way of its southern border – a substitute for dangerous routes into Europe.