The Supreme Court majority (6-3) has granted the DOJ request to put on hold a Boston-based US District Judge ruling that DHS policy to remove illegal aliens to so-called third countries is unlawful. The process of rapid deportation will continue while the matter is called before the Supreme Court for oral arguments in December (ruling in ’27).
The three DEI Justices, Sotomayor, Jackson and Kagan did not support the ruling. They would have denied the ability to deport illegal aliens to third-party countries.
REUTERS – […] The Supreme Court previously sided with the administration in the legal challenge, suspending a preliminary order that Murphy issued earlier in the case halting the removals. In another win for the administration, the Supreme Court subsequently lifted limits the judge had imposed to protect a group of men from being sent to South Sudan.
The case began in 2025 after the Department of Homeland Security moved to step up deportations of migrants who cannot be returned to any country listed on their deportation orders.
The policy provided that migrants could be swiftly removed without notice to third countries that have provided credible diplomatic assurance that they will not persecute or torture the individuals. For countries that have not provided such assurance, deportees would be notified of their destination and US authorities would assess the likelihood of persecution or torture only if the individual raises such fear on their own.
Immigrant rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of a group of migrants seeking to prevent their removal to third countries without notice and a chance to assert the harms they could face.
In February, Murphy ruled that the policy violates immigration law procedures and due process protections under the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. Due process generally requires the government to provide notice and an opportunity for a hearing before taking certain adverse actions.
In an emergency filing to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department said third-country deportations are “an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens.”
But both Murphy and critics of the administration said the policy is also targeting migrants who had been granted legal protection from being sent back to their home countries. (read more)
