Supreme Court Sides Against Noncitizens in Third Country Deportations Case
Today, the United States Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in a nationwide class action. The injunction had provided critical due process protections to noncitizens facing torture in third country removals. In the underlying case, Plaintiffs are challenging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s policy and practice of deporting people with final removal orders to countries other than the one designated in the underlying removal proceedings—without providing any notice of the third country or any opportunity to apply for protection based on their fear of what would happen to them if deported to that country.
In its summary order, the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims. The ruling also does not impact the district court’s class certification in this case.
“The ramifications of Supreme Court’s order will be horrifying; it strips away critical due process protections that have been protecting our class members from torture and death,” said Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance. “Importantly, however, the Court’s ruling only takes issue with the court’s authority to afford these protections at this intermediate stage of the case—we now need to move as swiftly as possible to conclude the case and restore these protections.”
“The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves thousands of people vulnerable to deportation to third countries where they face torture or death, even if the deportations are clearly unlawful,” said Leila Kang, with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
“The Supreme Court did not find fault with the district court’s findings that DHS is unlawfully deporting persons without providing the necessary protections to make sure they are not tortured or killed,” said Anwen Hughes, with Human Rights First. “We will go back to district court and keep pushing toward a final judgment to stop this inhumane practice.”
Plaintiffs will also continue to seek relief for the eight men whom DHS targeted for removal to South Sudan. They are currently being held in a shipping container on a U.S. naval base in Djibouti, following a separate order from the district court stopping DHS from removing them to South Sudan. The court held that DHS violated its prior order by attempting to remove them without adequate notice and an opportunity to present an application for protection based on what would happen to them if they were removed to South Sudan, a country with a repressive security apparatus and a history of arbitrary detention and torture that is also now on the brink of renewed civil war.
The Supreme Court’s order is located HERE.
