MEXICO CITY, Sept 8, 2025 (AFP) - A Mexican man deported from the United States to South Sudan as part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown returned home on Sunday after being repatriated by his government, officials said.

Jesus Munoz Gutierrez was one of eight men deported to South Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, on July 5.

Only one of the eight was from South Sudan.

The east African country is one of several in Africa and Central America where leaders have accepted taking in third-country migrants deported from the United States.

Munoz Gutierrez "arrived in Mexico City from Juba, the capital of South Sudan," Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He flew home via Ethiopia and Germany.

In announcing his expulsion in May, the US government claimed that Munoz Gutierrez had been sentenced to life in prison for murder, but the Mexican government said Sunday that he was taken to South Sudan "arbitrarily, after having completed a 25-year sentence."

Speaking in Juba on Saturday, Munoz Gutierrez said he had "finished my time" in prison.

He said he was treated "well" in Juba.

South Sudan recently emerged from a bloody civil war, which left an estimated 400,000 dead between 2013 and 2018.