D.V.D v. DHS

Challenging the Deportation of People to Third Countries Without Due Process

As the Trump administration ramps up deportations, individuals are being sent to countries the government never raised as possible countries of removal during their immigration proceedings without notice or opportunity to raise a fear claim. 

Human Rights First and co-counsel, including NILA and NWIRP, are challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) policy of deporting noncitizens to countries the government never raised as possible countries of removal during their immigration proceedings, without any notice or the opportunity to contest removal due to a fear of persecution, torture, and even death in the third country. 

The lawsuit also challenges a secret February 18, 2025 directive instructing DHS officers to review the cases of individuals previously released from immigration detention—including those who have complied with the terms of their release for years and even decades—for re-detention and removal to a third country.

The four plaintiffs, who are from Cuba, Honduras, Ecuador, and Guatemala, seek to represent a nationwide class of similarly situated individuals at risk of re-detention and deportation to a third country. One of the plaintiffs, O.C.G., who won protection from deportation to Guatemala, has already been deported to Mexico, even though he testified in the immigration court that he had had been targeted and raped in Mexico and even though DHS advised the court it was not seeking to designate Mexico as a country of removal during those proceedings. In Mexico, authorities gave him the Hobson’s choice of languishing in detention in a country where he had been persecuted, or being deported back to persecution in Guatemala. He currently remains in hiding in Guatemala.

In addition to seeking a nationwide class certification, the lawsuit seeks an order declaring DHS’s actions in violation of the law, enjoining the agency from failing to provide notice and an opportunity to present any fear-based claims, and enjoining the February 18, 2025 re-detention directive.

On April 10, 2025, The court extended the TRO that it issued on March 28 until it rules on the motion for a preliminary injunction.

On April 18, 2025, the court certified this nationwide class: all individuals who have a final removal order issued in proceedings under Section 240, 241(a)(5), or 238(b) of the INA (including withholding-only proceedings) whom DHS has deported or will deport on or after February 18, 2025, to a country (a) not previously designated as the country or alternative country of removal, and (b) not identified in writing in the prior proceedings as a country to which the individual would be removed.

The details of this case have been featured across media, including in NPR, Law 360, Bloomberg, AP News, and Newslooks.