US Supreme Court lets Trump resume deportations to third countries
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump’s administration continue swiftly deporting people to countries other than their own for now, while the justices consider whether the policy is legal. The apparent 6-3 order temporarily lifts lower court requirements for migrants to get a chance to object before being sent to countries to which they have no ties. The Supreme Court will…
On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump's administration can continue deporting individuals to nations other than their own, pending a legal review. The 6-3 decision temporarily reinstates lower court restrictions that previously required migrants to have a chance to challenge deportation before being sent to countries with no direct connection to them.
The Supreme Court is set to deliberate the matter in December, with three justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson - having previously maintained the lower court order. The Trump administration contends that lower court restrictions have led to the cancellation of a deportation flight carrying around 70 individuals headed to three countries.
The conservative majority previously supported the administration's deportation policy, allowing flights to resume last year. The court is to examine several issues, including the policy's legality, the lower courts' authority to handle the case, as well as additional concerns identified by the government. The order effectively permits the administration to resume deporting individuals to third countries where they might face persecution, torture, imprisonment, or severe danger, according to Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance.
However, the Supreme Court has not yet decided if the government's policy is legal. The Trump administration has deported approximately 25,000 people to over two dozen countries, with the majority sent to Mexico. These bilateral agreements involve 31 countries, some of which have poor human rights records. New York Times reported that deported migrants were hooded and beaten at a remote hotel in Equatorial Guinea.
The administration asserts that it sends people with final deportation orders to third countries when their native countries cannot accept them or would not protect them, including those with criminal convictions. Federal lawyers have assured that the governments provide guarantees that individuals will not be persecuted or tortured.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the policy as a "lawful and critical tool for immigration enforcement" on social media. Some migrants, however, have discovered themselves imprisoned in unfamiliar countries and are left with limited options, primarily returning to the countries they fled. Many lack criminal convictions and have been found at risk of torture or persecution, according to the immigrants' legal representatives.
The case unfolds amid a broad immigration crackdown initiated by the Trump administration, which aims to deport millions of people residing in the US illegally.
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