FILE - The silhouettes of South Sudanese people are seen through a South Sudanese flag as they line up to cast their votes in Juba, South Sudan, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
JD HK**TOK**JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United States is terminating South Sudan's designation for temporary protected status, which for years allowed people from the East African country to remain in the U.S. legally and escape armed conflict back home.
The termination will be effective Jan. 5, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements," the statement said.
It added that South Sudanese nationals who use the Customs and Border Protection mobile app to report their departure could receive "a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.â€
The new policy is a blow to people from South Sudan, a nation that remains politically unstable and the source of many refugees seeking shelter abroad.
Edmund Yakani, a prominent civic leader in South Sudan, said the decision may be “a clear demonstration that South Sudan is no longer cooperating with the U.S. on matters of deportation of foreign nationals."
“South Sudan has not accepted a second phase of U.S. deportees to South Sudan and this has angered the Trump administration (and) the Trump administration has reached this decision now, where it is ending protections available for South Sudanese who fled the war," he said.
At least eight men were to South Sudan from the U.S. earlier in the year, as part of a program to deport unwanted migrants to third countries.
South Sudan has been designated for temporary protected status since 2011, when it became independent from Sudan. The designation is renewed in 18-month increments.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to that have allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally, including ending temporary status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians who were under President Joe Biden.
South Sudan’s embattled government struggles to deliver many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid, which has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s . Many South Sudanese face hunger, and this week a hunger monitor said parts of conflict-hit South Sudan were heading toward .
A peace deal to end fighting between rival forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and to his erstwhile deputy Riek Machar, has been in force since 2018, but observers say it is slowly unraveling after the arrest earlier this year of Machar on criminal charges.
Kiir said he suspended Machar as his first vice president so that his deputy could face charges including treason.
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