USA Completes Deportations to South Sudan by Way of Djibouti

Eight men who have been held in Djibouti since May while court battles played out over their fate were sent on to violent, unstable South Sudan thanks to the USA’s Supreme Court.

A last ditch effort to obtain at least some due process for them failed. Federal District Court Judge Randolph Moss sent the case back to District Court Judge Brian Murphy, who heard the original case. It had gone all the way to the Supreme Court, which did not adhere to its own recent decision that people deported to a third country must have due process and decided they could be sent without due process after all. Murphy said he had no power to intercede any more, so the transfer occurred.

One of the eight deportees is from South Sudan. For the other seven, this is a third country rendition. They are from Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and Mexico. They are in the custody of South Sudan now. Their fate from this point on is not clear.

The USA’s State Department advises against travel to South Sudan due to “crime, kidnapping and armed conflict.”

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