Washington is revoking all visas for South Sudanese passport holders and blocking new arrivals, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement on Saturday. This decision comes as a complaint that the African nation isn’t accepting its citizens expelled from the US. The state department announced plans to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and halt further issuance to prevent entry. This is the first time a measure targeting all passport holders from a particular country has been implemented since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 2021. Trump campaigned on an anti-immigration platform.

Rubio accused the transitional government in Juba of taking advantage of the United States, emphasizing that every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country seeks to remove them. Washington will review these actions once South Sudan cooperates fully. South Sudan, the world’s youngest and one of the poorest countries, is currently experiencing political tensions that some fear could escalate to a renewal of civil war, similar to the conflict from 2013 to 2018, which resulted in 400,000 deaths.

South Sudanese nationals had previously been granted “temporary protected status” (TPS) by the Biden administration, but this designation is set to expire on May 3, 2025. TPS shields individuals from deportation who cannot return home safely due to war, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. The US grants this status to foreign citizens who face such conditions in their home countries.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/us-revokes-all-visas-for-south-sudanese-over-countrys-failure-to-repatriate-citizens