A Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan through the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program returned to Vietnam on Friday. This repatriation concludes more than a year of detention. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Sudan confirmed the news regarding 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a press briefing.
Spokesperson Agok Anyar expressed gratitude for Phan’s discipline and health during his detention. Phan, alongside seven others, was initially rerouted to a U.S. military base in Djibouti in May 2025. This occurred after a judge blocked their deportation, citing procedural issues. However, a Supreme Court ruling eventually allowed their deportation to proceed, and they arrived in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, aboard a military plane in July 2025.
All eight men deported have criminal convictions in the U.S. They had completed their prison terms before their detention by immigration authorities last year. Under agreements with the U.S., at least seven African countries have accepted deportees who are not their citizens. Those countries received monetary compensation from the U.S. More than 180 individuals have been sent to these nations, as reported by the monitoring group Third Country Deportation Watch.
South Sudan’s selection as a receiving country drew significant controversy due to its human rights record, corruption issues, and political instability. The United Nations reported that armed conflict displaced over half a million people in the country in 2025. In September, Jesus Munõz-Gutierrez became the first in this group of deportees to be repatriated when flown to Mexico. Dian Peter Domach, the sole South Sudanese national in the group, was released upon arrival. The remaining men are from Cuba, Myanmar, and Laos.
Phan’s immigration history dates back to his childhood move to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1991. In 2000, as a young adult, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a gang-related homicide. His deportation order arrived in 2009, and he was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March 2025 after serving his full sentence.
During their detention in Juba, the deportees resided in a guarded house, as documented in a U.S. Senate report. A congressional aide’s visit marked the first independent outside contact with the detainees, highlighting potential human rights issues, according to Michael Bochenek of Human Rights Watch.
While details of similar deportation arrangements have been released, the specifics of the U.S.-South Sudan deal remain unclear. State Department documents reveal South Sudan requested U.S. assistance for sanctions relief and legal support for a prominent case in exchange for accepting the deportees. The compensation South Sudan received for this agreement is still undetermined.
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