US ends protected status for South Sudanese nationals

By Maiya Keidan and Susan Heavey

The Trump administration is ending the temporary protected status for South Sudanese nationals that has been in place for more than a decade, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notice published on Wednesday

Nationals from South Sudan have a 60-day grace period to leave the United States before facing deportation starting in early January, DHS said in the notice on their designation status, which expired on Monday.

Republican U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to strip legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants from a number of countries since taking office in January as part of his broad immigration crackdown and "America First" agenda.

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The TPS program is a humanitarian designation under U.S. law for countries stricken by war, natural disaster or other catastrophes, allowing recipients living in the United States protection from deportation and access to work permits.

South Sudan has faced repeated bouts of violent conflict since 2011, with a civil war between 2013 and 2018 leaving 400,000 people dead.

A U.N.-backed hunger monitor said this week that food insecurity and malnutrition in the country remained "extremely high".

DHS in its notice on Wednesday said South Sudan no longer met the conditions for the designation, which has been approved for about 232 South Sudanese individuals, with 73 applications pending.

Nationals from Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and other countries have also seen their TPS status revoked, though some face court challenges. Trump's administration has also separately set a limit on refugee admissions to the lowest ceiling on record.