A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday from deporting migrants to countries where they are not citizens. The judge ruled that the government must give migrants a chance to present their claims about facing persecution or torture if sent to those countries.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued a nationwide restraining order to prevent the government from quickly deporting people who have final orders for removal to countries not listed in their immigration proceedings.
Since taking office, Trump’s administration has worked out agreements with Mexico and some Central American countries to accept deportees from other nations. Earlier this month, Trump used a 226-year-old wartime law to send suspected Venezuelan gang members to a high-security prison in El Salvador. Although a judge blocked that specific move, flights with over 200 deportees continued to El Salvador, where they remain detained, despite protests from immigrant and civil rights groups.
Murphy’s decision came after a group of migrants filed a lawsuit, represented by immigrant rights advocates, against a policy that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) adopted to speed up deportations of thousands of migrants who had been previously released from detention.
This policy, announced on February 18, instructed ICE officers to review the cases of people released from detention, including those who had followed the terms of their release, for possible re-detention and removal to a third country.
Lawyers for the migrants argued that this policy put many people at risk of being sent to countries where they could face harm, without any warning or chance to explain why they shouldn’t be deported there.
Judge Murphy pointed out that under international agreements, migrants are protected from being sent to countries where they may face torture.
He told a Justice Department attorney, “If your position today is that we don’t have to give them any notice, and we can send them to any country other than the country to which the immigration court has said no, that’s a very surprising thing to hear the government say.”
Murphy ruled that the government cannot deport anyone to a country other than the one designated for their removal without giving them written notice and a meaningful chance to present their fear of persecution or torture.
“We’re relieved the judge saw the urgency of this situation both for our named plaintiffs and other similarly situated individuals,” said Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the migrants with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance.
Murphy’s order will remain in effect until the judge decides on the migrants’ request for a longer-term injunction. He will hear arguments on that request on April 10.
The Justice Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
