Trump admin yanks South Sudan visas until nation accepts deportation flights: Rubio

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Saturday that the Trump administration would begin pulling visas for South Sudanese nationals currently in the U.S. and reject any new visa requests.

Rubio explained in a post on social media that the move was meant to pressure South Sudan to cooperate with America’s repatriation flights as the administration works to deport illegal aliens.

‘South Sudan’s OWN EMBASSY in Washington certified this particular individual as one of their nationals.’

Rubio wrote, “I am taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and to restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States, effective immediately, due to the failure of South Sudan’s transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner.”

According to a press release from the Department of State, the travel restrictions will ensure that South Sudan “stop[s] taking advantage of the United States.”

The State Department declared that it would only review its action after South Sudan agreed to cooperate with the U.S. in its deportation efforts.

“Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States. Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them,” the agency stated.

“As South Sudan’s transitional government has failed to fully respect this principle, effective immediately, the United States Department of State is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders,” the statement read.

Rubio warned last month that the administration would continue to revoke visas for “those whose presence or activities have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for our country.”

“And we will continue to use every legal means available to remove alien enemies,” he added.

South Sudan released a statement acknowledging the White House’s actions and clarifying its stance on deportation flights.

“We would like to clarify that the Government of South Sudan has consistently maintained open communication and cooperation with U.S. authorities regarding immigration and deportation matters. The Government welcomes all of its citizens, whether they are returning voluntarily or through deportation processes.”

The Foreign Ministry of South Sudan told Axios that the administration’s decision to revoke visas resulted from an incident involving an individual the U.S. attempted to deport. The ministry claimed the deportee was not the individual listed on a travel document but a Congolese national.

“The Government deeply regrets that despite this history of collaboration and partnership, South Sudan now faces a broad revocation of visas based on an isolated incident involving misrepresentation by an individual who is not a South Sudanese national,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation stated.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau rejected the ministry’s claims.

“South Sudan’s OWN EMBASSY in Washington certified this particular individual as one of their nationals,” Landau said. “Specifically, on February 13, 2025, the South Sudanese Embassy issued the individual an emergency travel letter certifying his nationality as South Sudanese and giving his date and place of birth (in what is now South Sudan, which then was part of Sudan). In reliance on that letter, the US Government, at US taxpayer expense, transferred this person almost halfway around the world, to Juba, South Sudan.”

“Obviously, at that point, it is unacceptable and irresponsible for South Sudanese government officials to second guess the determination of their own Embassy—as far as we’re concerned, the Embassy’s certification is conclusive and the matter is closed,” he continued. “We cannot have a repatriation system that allows foreign governments to reopen and relitigate eligibility for repatriation after those very governments had previously certified such eligibility and an individual has been repatriated.”

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