The United States has revoked visas held by all South Sudanese passport holders, escalating a deportation dispute between Washington and the world’s newest country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move takes effect immediately and also bars arriving South Sudanese nationals from entering the United States. He said the South Sudanese transitional government had failed to accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner and accused it of “taking advantage” of the U.S.
Rubio linked the decision to President Donald Trump’s broader immigration agenda, which has centered on mass deportations and tighter enforcement against people the administration says are in the country unlawfully. The State Department’s action is unusually sweeping because it does not target a single official or a narrow class of travelers; it applies to all passport holders from South Sudan.
The move comes at a sensitive moment for South Sudan itself. The country is facing renewed fear of civil conflict, and the United States ordered all non-emergency staff to leave on March 8 after regional fighting threatened a fragile 2018 peace deal. That deal remains only partially implemented, with major political and security steps still unresolved.
South Sudanese citizens in the U.S. have previously been protected by Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows them to remain for a limited period. That protection had been due to expire by May 3, making the visa move another blow to people whose status was already uncertain.
South Sudan became independent in 2011 after seceding from Sudan, but civil war erupted two years later after a rift between President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar. The conflict killed more than 400,000 people. Although the 2018 power-sharing deal ended the worst of the fighting, sporadic violence has continued and the country has remained politically fragile.
The decision could have wider effects than diplomacy alone. BBC reported that Duke University was reviewing the implications for Khaman Maluach, an 18-year-old South Sudanese student and basketball star who played for South Sudan’s Olympic team last summer and is widely expected to move on to the NBA after college.
The visa announcement also fits a pattern in which the Trump administration has used immigration leverage against foreign governments that refuse to take deportees back. In January, Colombia backed down after Trump threatened tariffs and sanctions in a separate deportation fight.
For South Sudanese nationals, the immediate question is not only whether the visa revocation will be reversed, but how long the new restrictions will remain in place. For Juba, the pressure is diplomatic and practical at once: accept returnees faster, or risk having relations with Washington deteriorate further.
