May 22, 2025
On Tuesday, immigration attorneys told a federal judge that they received information that the U.S. government may have deported people from countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan, an African nation embroiled in conflict and political instability.
In the emergency filing, the attorneys told the judge that the deportation flights were in direct violation of a ruling that prevented the Trump administration from deporting migrants to third countries without granting them due process. On Wednesday, the judge found that the administration did indeed violate that order.
Due to widespread violence, human rights violations, and ongoing conflict, the U.S. State Department has issued a Level 4 Advisory for South Sudan telling U.S. citizens not to travel there.
The judge told the Trump administration that they must maintain custody of the migrants and ordered them to answer questions about this apparent deportation in a hearing on Wednesday.
In an emergency order on Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans.
TPS may be designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security to countries with conditions - like ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions - that temporarily prevent those countries’ nationals from safely returning.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may grant TPS to eligible people of certain countries who are already in the U.S.
TPS is temporary and does not lead to permanent status.
A bipartisan group of representatives have reintroduced the Farm Workforce Modernization Act that seeks to reform the H-2A visa program for employers seeking a legal workforce.
The visa program was implemented by Congress in 1952 to temporarily allow foreign farmworkers to legally work in the U.S.
Representatives Dan Newhouse (R-WA.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) proposed the bill after Lofgren attempted to push the legislation through in 2019, 2021, and 2023. It passed the House twice, but never passed the Senate. If approved, it could create a legal pathway to residency for farmworkers.
