The United States has ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudanese citizens, the Donald Trump administration said on Wednesday. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), South Sudanese citizens living in the country will now have a 60-day grace period to leave the United States before facing deportation starting in early January.
What is temporary protection status?
The TPS program is a humanitarian designation under U.S. law for countries afflicted by war, natural or other disasters, allowing recipients living in the United States to be protected from deportation and obtain work permits.
Conflict in South Sudan
South Sudanese citizens have enjoyed temporary protected status in the United States for the past 14 years. South Sudan has faced repeated bouts of violent conflict since its independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, with a civil war between 2013 and 2018 killing 400,000 people.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are about 5,000 South Sudanese citizens currently living in the United States. In its notice on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said South Sudan no longer meets the requirements for the designation.
No food has reached South Sudan this year
This comes despite a UN-backed hunger monitor saying this week that food insecurity and malnutrition in the country remain “very high”.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global monitor, no food aid has reached the conflict-affected area of South Sudan this year despite growing fears that it is heading towards famine.
The report estimates that 28,000 people in Nasir and Fangak provinces face “catastrophic food insecurity, the most severe level of hunger.” She added that an immediate and widespread response is needed.
The IPC is the only globally recognized framework for famine declaration. A region is considered to be in famine when three things happen: deaths from malnutrition-related causes reach at least two people, or four children under the age of five, per 10,000; At least one in five people or families suffer from severe food shortages and face starvation; At least 30% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition based on weight-for-height – or 15% based on upper arm circumference.
The last famine in South Sudan was declared in 2017 during the country’s civil war. Now, more than half of the country’s population is expected to face extreme hunger in 2026, according to the IPC.
(tags for translation)South Sudan
