Rubio Says Blocking Deportations to South Sudan Will Harm Humanitarian Aid
Source: Rolling Stone
May 24, 2025
A judge ruled this week that Donald Trump’s administration violated his order barring officials from deporting people to third countries by attempting to send a group of Asian immigrants to South Sudan — and directed them to maintain custody of the immigrants at a U.S. military base. On Friday night, Trump’s Justice Department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a wild new argument as they demanded Judge Brian Murphy either reconsider or pause his orders so they can appeal them.
The Trump officials argued that blocking the president’s attempt to deport immigrants to war-torn South Sudan will harm efforts to distribute humanitarian aid in the region. “In South Sudan, the orders threaten to derail significant efforts to quietly rebuild a productive working relationship with the government in Juba,” Rubio wrote in a declaration filed alongside the Justice Department’s motion. He continued: “Cooperation between the U.S. and South Sudan is critical, both in terms of removals but also to advance the U.S. government’s humanitarian efforts in the country.
Without South Sudan’s cooperation, moving humanitarian relief — food, medicine, etc. — into the region becomes more difficult. It is almost certain the court’s interjection will result in delayed or significantly reduced humanitarian efforts.” It’s a rich argument, considering that the Trump administration has gutted the government’s humanitarian efforts, starting with the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The scraps of USAID, America’s foreign aid bureau, have been folded into Rubio’s State Department. Last month, the nonprofit aid group Save the Children reported that it had closed seven free health facilities in South Sudan as a result of foreign aid cuts. The organization told The Washington Post that the Trump administration had terminated about $13 million in funding for South Sudan. The money had come from the State Department and U.S.-funded United Nations programs.
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-rubio-south-sudan-deportations-humanitarian-aid-1235347674/
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282404/gov.uscourts.mad.282404.130.0.pdf
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