Vietnamese Man Deported to South Sudan Under U.S. Third-Country Program Repatriated to Vietnam

A Vietnamese national who was deported to South Sudan as part of the Trump administration's controversial third-country deportation program has been repatriated to Vietnam after spending over a year in detention, officials announced Friday.

Tuan Phan, 44, was returned to his home country, according to South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Phan was one of eight men with criminal convictions in the United States who had completed their prison sentences before being taken into U.S. immigration custody last year. The men were flown to Africa in May 2025, initially rerouted to a U.S. military base in Djibouti after a federal judge blocked their deportation to South Sudan mid-flight. They ultimately arrived in Juba, South Sudan's capital, aboard a military aircraft in July 2025 following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed their removal.

Phan is the second person in the group to be repatriated, following Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, who was flown to Mexico in September. Dian Peter Domach, the only South Sudanese national among the eight, was released upon arrival, officials said. The remaining men come from Cuba, Myanmar, and Laos. Court records show Phan moved to the United States as a child in 1991 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2000 for a fatal shooting during a gang altercation. His deportation order was issued in 2009, and he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody immediately after completing his sentence in March 2025.

South Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Agok Anyar said at a press briefing, "We are grateful that while in our custody Mr. Phan was very disciplined, joyful, and importantly, he remained healthy." However, conditions of the detainees' confinement have raised concerns. While in Juba, the deportees were held in a gated house under armed guard, according to a U.S. Senate report. A congressional aide who visited the men last year was the first person outside South Sudanese officials to see them, the report noted. Michael Bochenek, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch, said the lack of independent visits "raises serious questions about South Sudan's compliance with human rights norms and essential safeguards against abuses in detention."

The choice of South Sudan as a receiving nation has sparked controversy due to its poor human rights record, high corruption levels, and growing political instability. Armed conflict displaced over half a million people in the country in 2025, according to the United Nations. At least seven African countries have agreed to accept deportees who are not their own citizens as part of arrangements with the United States, which has paid millions of dollars to those governments in exchange. More than 180 people have been sent to these countries, according to the monitoring initiative Third Country Deportation Watch. While some details of such deals have been made public, the terms of the South Sudan arrangement remain unclear. State Department documents show South Sudan made requests including sanctions relief for a former top official and support for prosecuting a prominent opposition leader, but it is unknown what the government received in return.