South Sudan Repatriates Fifth Third Country Deportee

(JUBA) – A Laotian man deported by the United States to South Sudan has left for Laos after spending more than a year in detention in Juba, his attorney said.

Thongxay Nilakout left South Sudan on 8th October for Vientiane, the capital of Laos, according to attorney Tin Nguyen.

He had been detained in Juba since July 2025.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said it coordinated his repatriation with the government of Laos.

The ministry said Laos provided assurances against torture or other ill treatment upon his return.

Nguyen said Nilakout had been willing to return to Laos before the United States deported him to South Sudan.

A Lao consular officer had told his family that a travel document had already been issued.

“Thongxay’s deportation to Laos is not just a relief for his family, it is proof of what we argued from day one. He should have been sent to Laos,” Nguyen said in a statement.

The United States Department of Homeland Security said it was preparing a response to questions about the case and requested more time to comment.

Nilakout and seven other men were sent to Africa in May 2025.

They were rerouted first to a United States military base in Djibouti after a federal judge blocked their deportation to South Sudan midflight.

They arrived in Juba aboard a military aircraft after a Supreme Court ruling allowed their removal.

The eight were held in a gated house under armed guard.

All had criminal convictions in the United States but had served their prison sentences before being taken into immigration custody.

Nilakout resettled in the United States as a child in 1980 after his family fled Laos.

He spent time first in a refugee camp in Thailand, his attorney said.

In 1995, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the murder of a German tourist during an armed robbery in southern California.

He was 17 at the time of the crime.

His attorney said he became eligible for parole after a 2012 United States Supreme Court ruling found mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders unconstitutional.

He was released in 2023 and was working as a restaurant cook when United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody in March 2025.

Four of the original eight deportees remain in South Sudan, including two Burmese nationals and two Cuban nationals.

A Congolese national deported separately has since joined them, bringing the total to five, Nguyen said.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that five third country deportees remain in South Sudan.

The ministry said it was working with the governments concerned and international partners to facilitate their safe and humane repatriation.