South Sudan Repatriates US Deportee To Mexico

Juba: South Sudan on Saturday announced the "successful repatriation" of a Mexican citizen, one of eight men deported there from the United States under President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

The foreign ministry said Mexico had accepted the return of Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, deported there July 5 after a long-running legal battle.

Trump has made a priority of deporting migrants, including through arrangements to send people to often unstable and impoverished third countries.

The ministry statement said Munoz-Gutierrez had been repatriated after being transferred to the custody of Mexican ambassador Alejandro Estivill Castro in a "smooth and orderly" process.

South Sudan thanked Mexico for its cooperation and said it had received assurances Munoz-Gutierrez would not be subjected to "torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, or undue prosecution upon his return".

It said he had been treated with "full respect for his human dignity and fundamental rights" during his "temporary" stay in capital Juba.

Speaking at the airport, Munoz-Gutierrez told reporters that the US had "kidnapped" him.

"They were supposed to deport me back to Mexico, but they never completed the process... They did it wrong, and they sent me to South Sudan," he said, adding he "never thought" he would end up in Juba.

Only one of the eight men deported to South Sudan from the United States was from the country.

The foreign ministry said they remained committed to "working with our international partners, especially the governments of the remaining six third-country national deportees, to ensure... their repatriation to their countries of origin".

It did not say anything about the six remaining foreign nationals, although the government confirmed their arrival in July and said they were in custody.

South Sudan is one of the world's poorest countries and in the midst of renewed violent political instability.

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