The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to deport immigrants to countries other than their homeland.
In a 6–3 ruling, the justices overturned a lower court decision that had ordered the government to provide immigrants with a “meaningful opportunity” to argue the risks they might face if deported to a third country. Three liberal justices dissented from the majority opinion.
The case involved eight immigrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos, and Vietnam. The Trump administration labeled them as “some of the worst criminal elements” and deported them to South Sudan by plane in May.
According to an April ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Boston, immigrants should be given the right to argue that deportation to a third country could subject them to torture or death. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the majority on Monday, calling the decision a “serious misuse of judicial power.”
The Trump administration claimed the eight deported immigrants had committed “heinous crimes” in the U.S., including murder, arson, and armed robbery. The case was taken to the Supreme Court after the Boston-based appeals court refused to block the lower court’s ruling.
Following Judge Murphy’s intervention—he was appointed by President Biden—the U.S. government temporarily placed the immigrants in Djibouti, an African country that hosts a U.S. military base. U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court that immigration officials were forced to convert a conference room into a “temporary detention facility” for dangerous criminals.
Last month, the Supreme Court also allowed Trump to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals, a decision that could impact around 350,000 immigrants. The justices also allowed Trump to temporarily block a humanitarian program that permitted nearly half a million immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to remain in the U.S. for up to two years.
