World Relief Responds with Grief as DHS Terminates Temporary Protected Status of South Sudanese Nationals

South Sudanese lawfully residing in the U.S. join Haitians, Venezuelans, Syrians, Afghans, Cameroonians and others facing potential return to regions in crisis

Contact: Lauren Rasmussen, media@wr.org, 802.310.4255

BALTIMORE, Md. – World Relief responds to the Department of Homeland Security’s determination, in consultation with the Department of State and other agencies, to allow the lapse of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) issued to U.S. residents from South Sudan who have been lawfully present in the U.S., in many cases, since 2011, when it was first designated.  Though this decision affects a relatively small number of individuals, it signals a breakdown in the promise made to people who had been offered haven from a country still deemed too dangerous for travel due to armed conflict and kidnapping risk. 

World Relief grieves alongside these South Sudanese women, men and children who join the ranks of more than 1 million individuals — Haitians, Venezuelans, Syrians, Afghans, Cameroonians and many others — who had been offered TPS due to highly volatile conditions in their home countries, and whose status the administration has terminated or sought to terminate since the beginning of the year, even though all these regions are still among the world’s greatest humanitarian crises. While some groups’ future still hangs in the balance of pending lawsuits, some have already had to repatriate into uncertain circumstances.

World Relief has been active in what is now South Sudan since 1998, continuing to provide resources and support to communities in partnership with the local church, including emergency health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, Agriculture and economic empowerment, Peacebuilding and Protection and more.

“South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has by all measures already faced significant turbulence,” said Lihanda Jairus, World Relief South Sudan Country Director. “The Revitalised Agreement on Resolution of Conflict signed by all parties in 2018 is on the brink of collapse, with widespread violation of the agreement by multiple parties. Moreover, since 2020, we have witnessed severe flooding, which continues to undermine livelihoods. South Sudan remains one of the most fragile countries in the world, with profound humanitarian needs. There is still much progress to be made before the region could be considered stable enough to return South Sudanese people living in diaspora.”

“The decision is outrageous, but sadly it is the latest example of a determination that it is safe to deport lawfully-present individuals back to a situation that any objective observer would affirm is an active humanitarian crisis.” commented Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. “We urge Secretaries Noem and Rubio to reconsider extending protections, and exhort the church both to come alongside the South Sudanese community in the United States in prayer and to recommit themselves to standing alongside those in South Sudan as they rebuild.”