{"id":37577,"date":"2025-07-15T13:05:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T11:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onecitizendaily.com\/?p=37577"},"modified":"2025-07-15T13:06:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T11:06:45","slug":"when-the-dignity-of-nations-is-tested-south-sudans-position-on-the-us-deportation-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/when-the-dignity-of-nations-is-tested-south-sudans-position-on-the-us-deportation-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Dignity of Nations is tested: South Sudan’s position on the US deportation decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Isaac Chol Aguer<\/p>\n

This article follows my earlier piece titled \u201cDeporting Citizens\u2026 and Smuggling Garbage\u201d published on July 6, 2025, written before the official statement issued by South Sudan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In South Sudan, rumors have a short lifespan before becoming official statements.
\nLast week, I addressed reports about the possible deportation of South Sudanese nationals from the United States, noting that a citizen\u2019s return to their homeland is a legitimate right provided that return does not turn the country into a dumping ground for the world\u2019s rejects.<\/p>\n

Now, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issuing its official statement, the picture is clear.<\/p>\n

The decision comes directly from President Donald Trump \u2014 the current US president \u2014 who has ordered the deportation of individuals from various nationalities, including South Sudanese citizens and convicted criminals from Mexico, Cuba, and several Asian countries, with South Sudan designated as their destination.<\/p>\n

Faced with this, South Sudan\u2019s government has reluctantly accepted the decision, citing the need to \u201cpreserve bilateral relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, if our government has no immediate diplomatic alternative in dealing with the Trump administration, then it must do one thing \u2014 accept on our own terms.<\/p>\n

Our citizens abroad, regardless of their past mistakes, are welcome to return home.
\nMany of them did not leave because they craved burgers and rap concerts.
\nThey fled burning villages, broken futures, and a homeland that, at the time, offered no hope.<\/p>\n

Some found education<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some built lives. Some supported families back home. And yes, like any society some lost their way. But they remain our responsibility.<\/p>\n

What is unacceptable is for South Sudan to receive convicts and deportees from unrelated nations.<\/p>\n

How can a country struggling to contain local gangs like the Unknown Gunmen<\/em> and Toronto Boys<\/em>, while its main prison sits barely a few meters from the central bank and the busiest market in the capital, be expected to manage hardened foreign criminals deported from American prisons?<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s coercive diplomacy toward poorer nations is well known. But we must remember: The United States is not Trump alone.<\/strong> If relations are severed today, another president will eventually restore them.<\/p>\n

Nations that respect themselves negotiate even in their weakest moments. A country\u2019s dignity is not for sale in a memorandum of understanding.<\/p>\n

If we must accept deportees, then the conditions must be explicit:<\/p>\n