The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday it would end protections from deportation for citizens of South Sudan.
Citizens of South Sudan have qualified for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since the country gained its independence in 2011, with the status most recently extended by the Biden administration, which determined nationals could not be returned home due to an “ongoing armed conflict and humanitarian crisis.”
A notice posted in the Federal Register Wednesday gives South Sudanese citizens 60 days to leave the country, arguing they no longer qualify for the program that bars deportation for those facing civil unrest or natural disasters.
DHS said despite ongoing violence, South Sudan has yet to return to “full scale” civil war and noted its government plans to cooperate with deportations, creating “compelling foreign policy reasons” behind the shift.
“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 department wrote in the filing.
The move was criticized by immigration advocates who argued South Sudanese migrants would face a precarious situation if deported.
“At a time when South Sudan is mired in armed conflicts, mass displacement, and severe famine, it’s cruel and heartless to strip legal status from South Sudanese people living in America, especially since the conditions in their homeland make it impossible for them to return,” the New York Immigration Coalition, which includes more than 200 immigrant and refugee groups, said in a statement.
“The Trump administration is playing politics with their lives, forcing our neighbors into legal limbo and putting them at risk of deportation — even though they followed every legal requirement to remain in the United States.”
Source: The Hill
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