US deportees arrive in South Sudan, airport sources say
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Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
US completes deportation of 8 men to South Sudan after weeks of legal wrangling
WASHINGTON: Eight men deported from the United States in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have now reached the Trump administration's intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the State Department advises against travel to due to 'crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.' The immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to relocate them in a case that had gone to the Supreme Court, which had permitted their removal from the US Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the US 'This was a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people,' said Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement Saturday announcing the men's arrival in South Sudan, a chaotic country in danger once more of collapsing into civil war. The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for the transfer of the men who had been put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan. That meant that the South Sudan transfer could be completed after the flight was detoured to a base in Djibouti, where they men were held in a converted shipping container. The flight was detoured after a federal judge found the administration had violated his order by failing to allow the men a chance to challenge the removal. The court's conservative majority had ruled in June that immigration officials could quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that had allowed immigrants to challenge any removals to countries outside their homeland where they could be in danger. A flurry of court hearings on Independence Day resulted a temporary hold on the deportations while a judge evaluated a last-ditch appeal by the men's before the judge decided he was powerless to halt their removals and that the person best positioned to rule on the request was a Boston judge whose rulings led to the initial halt of the administration's effort to begin deportations to South Sudan. By Friday evening, that judge had issued a brief ruling concluding the Supreme Court had tied his hands. The men had final orders of removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said. Authorities have reached agreements with other countries to house immigrants if authorities cannot quickly send them back to their homelands.
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Diplomatic spotlight falls on Global South ahead of G20 meeting
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is making final preparations to attend the big BRICS summit on Sunday and Monday in Brazil. However, his mind may well be some 5,000 miles away in his home nation, which is facing the growing challenges of hosting another major global diplomatic event — the G20 meeting. South Africa's hosting of this year's G20 should be a victory lap for Ramaphosa and his country. It is the first time the African continent has chaired the global forum, yet the process has been beset with problems, largely emanating from the US. A few weeks ago, Ramaphosa visited the White House to try to course correct relations with the Trump team. However, the meeting proved tense, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly accusing South Africa of 'white genocide,' and it is still not clear whether the US president will attend November's leadership summit, despite the fact that Washington takes over as the next G20 host. Before his meeting with Ramaphosa, Trump declared that 'South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly. The United States won't stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of the situation has been completed.' Moreover, Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 7 which claimed that an expropriation law, passed in December, enables 'the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation. This act follows countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.' Washington donated about $440 million in aid to South Africa in 2023, most of which was for healthcare programs. It is not just Trump who has berated Ramaphosa. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who declined an invitation to attend a G20 foreign ministers meeting earlier this year, has declared that 'South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote solidarity, equality, & sustainability. In other words: DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and climate change. My job is to advance America's national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.' South Africa's hosting of this year's G20 should be a victory lap for President Cyril Ramaphosa and his country. Andrew Hammond What Trump and Rubio refer to in their denunciation is the 2024 South Africa Expropriation Act, which aims to resolve ownership inequality issues created by the pre-1994 apartheid system of white minority rule. The controversial law has drawn criticism for potentially disregarding private property rights, particularly those of the white minority, as it potentially permits state land seizures without compensation. To date, no land has been expropriated. The hostility of the Trump team to South Africa is making it much harder for Ramaphosa to host the G20, yet this is only the latest example of growing geopolitical divisions affecting the club in recent years. Tensions have long been high, too, between China and the West, and recent summits have seen significant disagreements over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which have caused diplomatic fireworks. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, G20 ministers frequently clashed diplomatically, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walking out of some meetings. Moreover, the customary group pictures of the so-called 'G20 family' have become rarer. In this context, there are significant challenges to constructive discussion taking place at the G20 this year — this despite the strong support that South Africa has received from other powers, including the EU. For instance, European Council President Antonio Costa has highlighted with Ramaphosa 'the EU's commitment to deepen ties with South Africa, as a reliable and predictable partner.' He added that the EU offers 'full support to South Africa's leadership of G20 and its ambition to strengthen multilateral cooperation and the Pact for the Future to address the most pressing global issues.' The backing of Brussels for Pretoria reflects not just its partnership with the country and the wider continent, but also the concern that Washington's absence from the G20 will only benefit Moscow and China. Yet, even if some governments, like the Trump team, have disagreements with parts of Ramaphosa's G20 agenda to address climate change and fairer finance for poorer nations, there are other items for constructive engagement. Take the example of the future of the energy agenda in Africa in which US firms have a huge stake. The danger if the US does not engage on these agendas is that it will lose a critical mass of its economic foothold in South Africa and much of the rest of the continent. All of this highlights why 2025 will be perhaps the most unpredictable G20 year ever. Amid the uncertainty, however, what is at stake is more than the future of the multilateral forum. At play are much wider questions about US international leadership in the new era.
Al Arabiya
16 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump administration deports eight migrants to South Sudan
The Trump administration has deported to South Sudan eight migrants who had been held for more than a month by the US at a military base in Djibouti, the Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday, after the migrants lost a last-ditch effort to halt their transfer. An aircraft carrying US deportees arrived in South Sudan on Saturday, two officials working at Juba airport said. An airport staffer speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters he had seen a document showing that the aircraft 'arrived this morning at 6:00 am' (0400 GMT). An immigration official also said the deportees had arrived in the country but shared no further details, referring all questions to the National Security Service intelligence agency. Earlier, a South Sudan government source said US officials had been at the airport awaiting the migrants' arrival. The fate of the migrants had become a flashpoint in the fight over the legality of the Trump administration's campaign to deter immigration through high-profile deportations to so-called 'third countries' where migrants say they face safety concerns, which has already gone from lower courts to the Supreme Court twice. South Sudan has long been dangerous even for local residents. The US State Department advises citizens not to travel there due to violent crime and armed conflict. The United Nations has said the African country's political crisis could reignite a brutal civil war that ended in 2018. The eight men, who according to their lawyers are from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan and Vietnam, had argued their deportations to South Sudan would violate the US Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. They had been held in US custody in Djibouti since a federal judge in Boston in May blocked the Trump administration from immediately moving them to South Sudan over due process concerns. Following additional litigation, the Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the administration, lifting those limits. Two courts considered requests from the migrants' lawyers on an emergency basis on Friday, when courts are otherwise closed for the July 4 Independence Day holiday, but ultimately US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston said the Supreme Court order required him to deny their bid, clearing the way for their deportation. The location of the men in South Sudan after their arrival was not immediately known.
