Washington — The Department of Homeland Security is planning to terminate Temporary Protected Status for nationals of South Sudan imminently, CBS News has exclusively learned. The change will end more than a decade of protection that allowed thousands of displaced South Sudanese nationals to live and work legally in the United States.
According to DHS officials, the decision by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem came after consultation with the State Department and other federal agencies.
Despite recent warnings from the United Nations and other organizations that South Sudan could actually be slipping back into a state of open warfare, DHS officials pointed to the end of an armed conflict, improved diplomatic relations and South Sudan’s expressed commitment to reintegrating any returning nationals, adding that continuing the TPS designation for South Sudan would be “contrary” to U.S. interests.
The designation lapsed on November 3, 2025, and a DHS official tells CBS News that a formal notice of termination will be published in the Federal Register later this week, triggering a 60-day grace period for South Sudanese nationals to depart the country or face deportation once their status officially expires in January. DHS estimates that roughly 5,000 South Sudanese nationals are currently living in the United States.
Over the past 14 years, under the program, South Sudanese nationals who could not safely return to their home country due to armed conflict and environmental disaster were shielded from deportation and allowed to work legally in the U.S. The designation dated back to a period of rampant instability that began when the young nation first gained its independence in 2011. Multiple presidential administrations had since extended the program.
South Sudan’s TPS designation was most recently renewed for 18 months, from November 4, 2023, to May 3, 2025, by then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, “due to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in South Sudan that prevent individuals from safely returning.” It was then extended automatically for six months, through November 3, after DHS did not complete a required review before a statutory 60-day window passed.
The termination marks a significant shift in U.S. policy toward South Sudan, a country still struggling to recover from years of civil war and humanitarian crises. While DHS says conditions have improved, humanitarian groups and regional experts caution that peace remains fragile, with deepening economic distress creating challenges for any safe return.
U.N. says “all indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war”
International mediators have reported some progress toward implementing a peace agreement and transitional governance framework, despite violence, corruption and weak state institutions hampering humanitarian access. But the U.S. State Department maintains a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for South Sudan, citing persistent armed conflict, crime and kidnapping.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, armed clashes among government troops, opposition forces and ethnic militias continue to claim lives and displace civilians.
The United Nations has documented widespread human rights abuses, including the recruitment of child soldiers, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions, and the global body’s human rights chief warned as recently as September that the fragile truce could crumble.
“With fears of a collapse of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement and a return to widespread violence intensifying, I deeply worry for the plight of civilians in South Sudan,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in late September.
More recently, a U.N. commission on human rights in the country warned the U.N. General Assembly at the end of October that “South Sudan’s political transition is falling apart.”
“The ceasefire is not holding, political detentions have become a tool of repression, the peace agreement’s key provisions are being systematically violated, and the Government forces are using aerial bombardments in civilian areas. All indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war,” commissioner Barney Afako told the U.N.
The U.N.’s World Food Program has also warned that ongoing conflict, flooding and food insecurity are worsening humanitarian conditions in the country.
Nearly three-quarters of the population — an estimated 9 million people — require humanitarian assistance, while 7.7 million face acute food insecurity, according to the Congressional Research Service and the U.N. Population Fund.
In the run-up to the official termination, DHS is now urging South Sudanese nationals who choose to depart voluntarily to use the Customs and Border Protection “CBP Home” mobile app to report their departure. The app, according to the department, offers a “safe, secure” way to self-deport, including a complimentary plane ticket, an exit bonus of $1,000 and potential pathways for future legal immigration to the United States, although DHS has not outlined what those pathways might look like.
