Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan repatriated to Vietnam

A Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan by U.S. authorities under a third-country deportation program was repatriated to Vietnam on Friday after spending more than a year in detention. South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a press briefing on Friday.

“We are grateful that while in our custody Mr. Phan was very disciplined, joyful, and importantly, he remained healthy,” said spokesperson Agok Anyar.

Background of the deportation Phan and seven other men were sent to Africa in May 2025. A federal judge blocked their deportation to South Sudan midflight, citing procedural irregularities, and they were rerouted first to a U.S. military base in Djibouti.

They arrived in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, aboard a military aircraft in July 2025 after a Supreme Court ruling allowed their removal. The eight men all have criminal convictions in the U.S. but had served their prison sentences when they were taken into custody last year.

Phan moved to the U.S. as a child in 1991. In 2000, shortly after turning eighteen, he received a 25-year prison sentence after he shot and killed someone during a gang altercation. His removal from the U.S. was ordered in 2009, and he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately after completing his sentence in March 2025.

Sudan and other cases In Juba, the deportees were held in a gated house under supervision by armed guards, according to a U.S. Senate report. A congressional aide who visited Juba last year was the first person other than a South Sudanese official to visit the men, the report says.