The Trump administration has escalated its legal battle over immigration enforcement, asking the Supreme Court on Tuesday to authorize the deportation of several migrants to South Sudan, a nation mired in conflict and instability, and where the individuals have no familial or national ties.
The request follows a Supreme Court ruling a day earlier that allowed U.S. immigration authorities to resume expedited deportations to third countries, effectively freezing a lower court’s injunction that had briefly given migrants the right to challenge such removals. But in Boston, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy reportedly blocked a specific deportation flight headed for South Sudan, insisting that those on board must still be granted the opportunity to argue their fears of persecution or torture.
Despite the broader Supreme Court ruling, Judge Murphy maintained that his order on the flight, which had diverted to Djibouti in May, stood firm. “Migrants must still get a chance to argue in court that they’d be in danger of torture if sent there,” he found.
RELATED STORIES
The Trump administration sharply rebuked the ruling in a court filing, accusing Murphy of obstructing foreign diplomacy and undermining executive power. They described the decision as “a lawless act of defiance that, once again, disrupts sensitive diplomatic relations and slams the brakes on the Executive’s lawful efforts to effectuate third-country removals.”
Watch a recent episode of The BreakDown podcast below and subscribe to our channel PanaGenius TV for latest episodes.
Lawyers representing the migrants warn that deporting individuals to South Sudan amounts to a death sentence. The country, which gained independence in 2011, has suffered from cycles of civil war, ethnic conflict, and political violence that continue to destabilize the region.
Attorneys noted their clients face the possibility of “imprisonment, torture and even death” if removed to the East African nation.
The standoff comes amid President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration clampdown, with renewed efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants. Facing resistance from countries that refuse to take back deportees, the administration has signed deals with other nations, including Costa Rica and Panama to receive migrants under third-country transfer agreements.
Judge Murphy, a Biden appointee, has not barred deportations to such countries outright. Instead, his ruling emphasized that immigrants must be given a meaningful chance to demonstrate the risk of harm they face if sent elsewhere.
In this instance, Murphy concluded that immigration officials violated his directives when they sent a deportation flight out of the U.S. on short notice. The plane carried eight men from countries including Mexico, Vietnam, and Myanmar, all of whom had been convicted of serious crimes on American soil.
The Justice Department quickly appealed to the Supreme Court, asserting that Murphy had overreached. The court’s conservative majority granted the Trump administration’s request to stay the ruling, issuing a brief order through its emergency docket. The decision came without detailed reasoning, as is common in such cases.
All three liberal justices dissented, joining a scathing critique of the majority’s move to curtail due process protections for those facing deportation to some of the world’s most dangerous regions.
