Key facts
- The U.S. is deporting individuals to third countries like Sierra Leone and South Sudan.
- Deportees to Sierra Leone risk being sent back to countries where they fear persecution.
- This risk exists despite prior U.S. court orders barring deportation to those nations.
- Tuan Phan, a Vietnamese national, was deported to South Sudan by the U.S.
- Phan was deported under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program.
- He was among eight men with U.S. criminal convictions sent to South Sudan.
- Phan has been repatriated to Vietnam after over a year in detention in South Sudan.
The United States is continuing to deport individuals to third countries, raising concerns that these individuals may be further deported to their home countries where they face persecution. Lawyers and documents indicate that asylum seekers deported to Sierra Leone are at risk of being sent back to nations where they fear persecution, even after U.S. court orders had previously barred such deportations.