Agencia EFE
In a major win for the White House’s hardline immigration agenda, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration can resume sending migrants to third countries like South Sudan and El Salvador.
The decision lifts a federal judge’s block on deporting eight migrants—including two Cubans and a Mexican—mid-flight to South Sudan.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms our lawful authority to remove illegal aliens to nations willing to accept them,” said Acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Deportation flights are cleared for takeoff,” she added, celebrating the 6-3 vote that saw the Court’s liberal justices in dissent.
The unsigned order overturns a Massachusetts federal judge’s May ruling that had halted the deportations over concerns the migrants could face torture without proper legal recourse.
The ruling ends a standoff that left eight deportees and eleven immigration agents stranded at a Djibouti airbase for weeks. Government lawyers had argued the group faced dangers ranging from potential Yemeni attacks to what they called “deplorable” living conditions.
Administration officials told the Court these individuals had committed “heinous crimes” and their home countries refused to take them back. Notably, just one was actually from South Sudan—the others hailed from Cuba, Mexico, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The decision marks another escalation in the administration’s immigration enforcement, which has increasingly relied on sending migrants to third countries despite U.S. laws prohibiting deportations to nations where they might face persecution.
The State Department currently warns Americans against travel to South Sudan, citing its ongoing civil war, and recalled non-essential staff earlier this year.
Behind the scenes, the administration has been scrambling to strike deportation deals with foreign governments. A controversial $6 million agreement with El Salvador has already seen over 200 migrants sent to a massive detention facility there—most cut off from contact with families or attorneys.
