(CNN) — A Mexican man deported from the US and sent to South Sudan returned to Mexico on Saturday, according to South Sudanese officials.
Ambassador Apuk Ayuel Mayen, spokesperson for South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed J. Jesus Muñoz Gutierrez’s “smooth and orderly” departure during a press conference at Juba International Airport on Saturday.
Muñoz was released into the custody of the Mexican ambassador-designate to South Sudan, Alejandro Estivill, Mayen said. CNN has reached out to Mexico’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Addressing reporters in Juba before stepping aboard a plane, Muñoz said he “felt kidnapped” by the US when he was sent to South Sudan.
“I was not planning to come to South Sudan, but while I was here, they treated me well,” Muñoz told reporters. “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.”
CNN has reached out to the US Department of Homeland Security for comment on Muñoz’ characterization of his deportation.
Muñoz was one of eight people deported from the US and sent to east Africa in May. He and the other deportees were initially diverted to Djibouti, where they were held in a converted Conex shipping container on a military base while the Trump administration fought for more than a month in federal court to send them to South Sudan.
Lawyers for the eight detainees – who came from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and other countries, along with Mexico – had argued that they would face dangerous physical conditions in South Sudan, which has struggled with intercommunal violence since its independence in 2011.
“I was not planning to come to South Sudan, but while I was here, they treated me well,” Muñoz told reporters. “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.”
CNN has reached out to the US Department of Homeland Security for comment on Muñoz’ characterization of his deportation.
Muñoz was one of eight people deported from the US and sent to east Africa in May. He and the other deportees were initially diverted to Djibouti, where they were held in a converted Conex shipping container on a military base while the Trump administration fought for more than a month in federal court to send them to South Sudan.
Lawyers for the eight detainees – who came from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and other countries, along with Mexico – had argued that they would face dangerous physical conditions in South Sudan, which has struggled with intercommunal violence since its independence in 2011.
