repatriates

JUBA, South Sudan — South Sudan said Saturday it repatriated to Mexico a man deported from the United States in July.

The man, a Mexican identified as Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, was among a group of eight who have been in government custody in the East African country since their deportation from the U.S.

Another deportee, a South Sudanese national, has since been freed while six others remain in custody.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said it carried out Munoz-Gutierrez’s repatriation to Mexico in concert with the Mexican Embassy in neighboring Ethiopia.

The move was carried out “in full accordance with relevant international law, bilateral agreements, and established diplomatic protocols,” the ministry said in a statement.

In comments to journalists in Juba, the South Sudan capital, Munoz-Gutierrez said he “felt kidnapped” when the U.S. sent him to South Sudan.

“I was not planning to come to South Sudan, but while I was here they treated me well,” he said. “I finished my time in the United States, and they were supposed to return me to Mexico. Instead, they wrongfully sent me to South Sudan.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said that Munoz-Gutierrez had a conviction for second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

South Sudan is engaging other countries about repatriating the six deportees still in custody, said Apuk Ayuel Mayen, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

It is not clear whether the deportees have access to legal representation.

Rights groups have argued that the Trump administration’s increasing practice of deporting migrants to third countries violates international law and the basic rights of migrants.

The deportations have been blocked or limited by U.S. federal courts, though the Supreme Court in June allowed the government to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands.

Other African nations receiving deportees from the U.S. include Uganda, Eswatini and Rwanda. Eswatini received five men with criminal backgrounds in July, and the Trump administration wants to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador earlier this year, to the southern African kingdom. Rwanda announced the arrival of a group of seven deportees in mid-August.

Machol writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department has transferred 14 Mexican nationals serving prison sentences in the United States on drug-related charges to their native country, according to both governments.

The transfer occurred Friday but was made public Monday by the Justice Department, which said in a statement that it was pursuant to a prisoner transfer treaty between the two countries.

The Justice Department said the unidentified inmates had requested the transfer, and both the United States and Mexico agreed. Under the treaty, the inmates will complete their sentences in Mexican detention facilities.

“These people were transferred to a prison in national territory with the aim of obtaining their social reintegration with greater proximity to their families,” Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

According to U.S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the transfer will save the United States more than $4 million in incarceration costs for the 96 remaining years on their combined sentence.

“The Justice Department will continue such transfers — pursuant to our treaty with Mexico — to reduce incarceration costs and relieve overcrowding in our federal prisons,” Galeotti said.

The announcement comes a month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was seeking to immediately repatriate 14 Mexican nationals held at Florida’s Everglades immigration detention center, more commonly known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

It was unclear if the 14 Mexican nationals repatriated Friday were the same individuals Sheinbaum was seeking to return home.

“All arrangements are being made to ensure their immediate repatriation to Mexico,” she said at a July 22 press conference, local media reported.

July 9 (UPI) — South Korea on Wednesday repatriated six North Koreans across the maritime border in the East Sea, months after they drifted into southern waters and were rescued.

A repaired wooden boat carrying the North Koreans crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, at 8:56 a.m., Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement to reporters.

“A North Korean patrol boat was at the handover point at the time of repatriation, and the North Korean vessel returned on its own,” the ministry said in the statement.

“During the repatriation process, we repeatedly confirmed the North Korean residents’ free will to return, and cooperated with relevant organizations to safely protect the North Korean residents until repatriation,” the ministry said.

Ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam said earlier this week that Seoul’s intention was to “repatriate them quickly and safely from a humanitarian standpoint.”

In May, South Korea’s military and coast guard rescued four North Koreans who were drifting in a small boat in the East Sea around 60 miles south of the Northern Limit Line. A pair of North Korean nationals were also rescued under similar circumstances in the Yellow Sea in March.

In a background briefing with reporters on Wednesday, a ministry official confirmed that North Korea never responded to notification efforts about the repatriation plan. The South reached out repeatedly via the U.S.-led United Nations Command, whose duties include controlling DMZ access and communicating with the North Korean military.

Seoul informed Pyongyang of the repatriation time and location through the UNC channel, and the North Korean boats appeared without prior notice, the ministry official said.

North Korea has completely cut off communications with the South in recent years as tensions remain high on the Peninsula.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has made an effort to improve inter-Korean relations since taking office last month and has pledged to restore a military hotline that the North has not responded to since 2023. He recently ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ in an effort to lower tensions in the border area.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry also recently used a press briefing to request that the North give advance notice before releasing water from a dam across the border. Ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong called the public appeal a form of “indirect communication” with Pyongyang.

South Korean authorities are currently investigating a North Korean man who crossed the heavily fortified land border between the two Koreas and was taken into custody by the South’s military. The man identified himself as a civilian, officials said, but they have not confirmed whether he intends to defect to the South.

North Koreans’ repatriation comes as South Korea’s newly-elected president is working to improve inter-Korean ties.

South Korea has repatriated six North Koreans who were rescued at sea earlier this year after their vessels drifted across the de facto maritime border, Seoul’s Unification Ministry has said.

The North Koreans, who were picked up by South Korean authorities in separate vessels in March and May, were transported across the Northern Limit Line on Wednesday morning with their “full consent” and after they had repeatedly expressed their wish to return home, the ministry said.

The repatriation was successfully completed with the cooperation of North Korean authorities despite repeated failed attempts by Seoul to contact Pyongyang about their return, according to the ministry.

The development comes as South Korea’s newly-elected president, Lee Jae-myung, is working to bolster ties between the two Koreas, which remain in a technical state of war after hostilities in the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Speaking at a news conference to mark his first month in office last week, Lee said that Seoul should work to improve relations in coordination with its ally, the United States, and that cutting off dialogue completely would be a “foolish act”.

Last month, South Korea’s military turned off loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda across the inter-Korean border in one of the Lee administration’s first steps towards rapprochement.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence at the time said the move would help “to restore trust in inter-Korean relations” and “promote peace on the Korean Peninsula”.

June 14 (UPI) — Russia and Ukraine exchanged an unreported number of prisoners of war on Saturday during the fourth such exchange during the week.

Ukraine also received the bodies of 1,200 dead civilians and military personnel from Russia.

The bodies are in addition to 2,412 that were sent to Ukraine on Wednesday and Friday and are being released per agreements reached during recent negotiations in Istanbul, the Kyiv Independent reported.

“The remains will now undergo forensic examination and identification procedures conducted by law enforcement investigators in cooperation with expert institutions under the [Ukrainian] Interior Ministry,” officials for the Coordination Headquarters Prisoners of War said in a prepared statement.

Identifying the bodies enables respective Ukrainian families to recover them for burial.

Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers and civilians for each side for a total exchange of 12,000 bodies.

Although the two nations agreed to exchange bodies, Russian officials said Ukraine did not return 1,200 bodies during Saturday’s exchange.

Russia and Ukraine are also exchanging prisoners of war who need medical care.

Ukraine has transferred wounded Russian soldiers who have been captured, including many who were transferred directly from the frontlines.

As cease-fire negotiations continue to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has continued to strike Ukraine with drone attacks.

Russia is on pace to strike Ukraine with nearly 7,000 drones, which would exceed the record number of 4,198 drones launched against Ukrainian military and civilian targets in March.

“This is terrorism against the civilian population aimed to create a series of doom, war-weariness and to put pressure on the [Ukrainian] authorities,” Liveuamap co-founder Rodion Rozhkovskiy told the Kyiv Independent.

While the war in Ukraine and related negotiations continue in Istanbul, Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Donald Trump on Saturday to wish him a happy birthday and discuss matters in Iran during the one-hour call.

“We talked at length,” Trump said in a White House statement issued after the phone call ended.

“Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week,” Trump said.

He said Putin knows Iran “very well” and agreed the war between Israel and Iran should end.

Trump said he told Putin, “his war should also end” in Ukraine.

The president did not offer more details on his conversation with Putin.

Russian forces on Friday captured the Ukrainian village of Yablunivka, which is located in northeastern Ukraine and about 5 miles from the border between the two nations, Russian officials announced on Saturday.

Russian forces also reportedly captured the villages of Koptevo and Komar in the eastern Donetsk region in Ukraine and six in total over the past week.