A Vietnamese man deported by the United States to South Sudan under a controversial immigration arrangement has left the East African country and returned home, South Sudanese officials said on Friday.
Tuan Thanh Phan departed Juba International Airport after spending nearly a year in South Sudan following his transfer by US authorities as part of the Trump administration’s hardline deportation policy.
Phan was among a group of migrants with criminal convictions who were sent to third countries under deportation agreements that attracted international scrutiny over the treatment and destination of deportees.
Speaking to journalists at the airport before Phan boarded his flight, South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Agok Anyar Madut said the repatriation had been coordinated between the governments of South Sudan and Vietnam.
“The repatriation exercise was a joint effort between the two governments,” Madut said, without providing further details on the arrangements.
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Phan said he was looking forward to reuniting with his family after a long separation.
“I am happy to return home and see my relatives,” he told reporters.
He said he had spent 25 years in prison before being deported from the United States, though he did not provide details about his conviction or the circumstances surrounding his removal.
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Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Phan’s departure follows the repatriation of other foreign nationals sent to South Sudan under the same US deportation programme.
South Sudan previously returned a Mexican national who had also been transferred to the country under the arrangement. At least eight people are known to have been deported from the United States to South Sudan under the scheme.
The deportations formed part of former US President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, which sought to expand removals of migrants with criminal records and increase the use of third-country deportation arrangements.
The policy faced criticism from immigration advocates and rights groups, who questioned whether deportees were being sent to countries where they had no connection and whether adequate protections were in place.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has faced its own political and humanitarian challenges since gaining independence in 2011, including conflict, displacement and economic difficulties.
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The government has maintained diplomatic relations with countries involved in the deportation arrangements and has previously accepted individuals transferred from the United States.
Phan’s return marks the latest development in a process that has placed South Sudan at the centre of a wider international debate over migration enforcement, deportation practices and the responsibilities of countries receiving removed migrants.
Officials did not say whether other deportees currently in South Sudan would also be repatriated or provide details on future arrangements.
