South Sudan said Saturday it repatriated to Mexico a man deported from the United States in July.
The man, a Mexican identified as Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, was among a group of eight who had been in government custody in the East African country since their deportation from the U.S.
His repatriation to Mexico was carried out by South Sudan’s foreign ministry in concert with the Mexican Embassy in neighboring Ethiopia, the South Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The repatriation was carried out “in full accordance with relevant international law, bilateral agreements, and established diplomatic protocols,” it said.
Rights groups have argued that the Trump administration’s increasing practice of deporting migrants to third countries violated international law and the basic rights of migrants.
The deportations have faced opposition by courts in the U.S., though the Supreme Court in June allowed the government to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands.
It is unclear whether Gutierrez and other deportees had access to legal representation.
The group of eight men was convicted of serious crimes — including murder, homicide, sexual assault, lascivious acts with a child and robbery — in the United States, the Trump administration said. None of the deportees is from South Sudan — the others hail from Cuba, Laos, Myanmar, Sudan and Vietnam.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said that Gutierrez had a conviction for second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
The deportations signify a major political victory for the Trump administration, which has sought to convince countries around the world — irrespective of their human rights record — to accept deportees who are not their citizens.
Other African nations receiving deportees from the U.S. include Uganda, Eswatini and Rwanda. Eswatini, in southern Africa, received five men with criminal backgrounds in July. Rwanda announced the arrival of a group of seven deportees in mid-August.
contributed to this report.
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