Syracuse councilor calls U.S. visa ban ‘overzealous’

A recent decision by the United States to revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens is raising concerns in Syracuse, which has a large community of people from South Sudan, including Chol Majok, who is running for mayor as the first refugee elected to the Syracuse City Council. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday announced the U.S. would cancel visas for those from the African country because it failed to accept the return of deportees from America “in a timely manner.”

South Sudanese officials on Tuesday said they would allow Congolese national Makula Kintuthe to enter their country “in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations” with the U.S. The U.S. had deported Kintu, saying he illegally used travel documents belonging to a South Sudanese national, Nimeri Garang.

In an interview Wednesday, Majok, a South Sudan native who won election in 2019 and was voted councilor-at-large in 2023, said he understood the U.S. has to protect its borders, but the new policy was resulting in the deportation of people to South Sudan who are not South Sudan nationals and creating uncertainties over travel. 

South Sudan is working to recover from a damaging civil war that split the country, and political tensions have been rising due to violence between government troops and armed opposition groups.

“It’s troubling to us as some of the people that are South Sudanese nationals here on scholarships who are going to universities, are top athletes, who are doing well for our country, doing well for our schools, are getting impacted,” Majok said. “That’s why I say these policies are overzealous, and it shouldn’t be like that because it’s affecting people’s lives.”

Majok said the new “umbrella approach” to banning visas closes the door on people coming from South Sudan. He said he is receiving calls from concerned residents waiting to see family members or worried about their fate. He called the state department’s action completely unacceptable.

“To recall the visas is not who we are as Americans, especially in this situation,” he said. 

Majok still has family in South Sudan. He said that while the Syracuse area has a robust network of services to assist refugees, resources are required to accommodate them. 

“My hope is our federal government turns this around and becomes more logical,” he said.

South Sudanese officials this week called the U.S. policy change unfair, and said it had cooperated with all other deportation cases. The U.S had said it was “prepared to review” the decision to revoke all visas “when South Sudan is in full cooperation.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.