A federal judge denied a petition to block the Trump administration from deporting eight migrants to South Sudan on Friday, just hours after another judge temporarily halted the deportation.
District Judge Randolph Moss of Washington, D.C., earlier Friday forwarded the migrants’ case to Massachusetts District Judge Brian Murphy, who cited previous orders by the Supreme Court in his ruling.
“This Court interprets these Supreme Court orders as binding on this new petition, as Petitioners are now raising substantially similar claims, and therefore Petitioners motion is denied,” Murphy wrote.
Moss had temporarily blocked the deportation, hours before it was scheduled. The emergency order issued by the judge came one day after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the deportations, prompting a last-minute legal challenge from the migrants’ attorneys, Reuters reported. Only one of the men is a citizen of South Sudan, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They have been held for weeks at a U.S. military base in Djibouti.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump’s administration has sent immigrants to various nations other than their native countries amid efforts to deter illegal immigration.
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The administration has been trying to deport the immigrants being held in Djibouti for several weeks. The men’s home countries include Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cuba and South Korea. DHS said they have been convicted of various crimes, including murder, robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the war-torn South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping and armed violence.
What To Know
The ruling from Moss was delivered at an emergency hearing, when courts were otherwise closed for the Fourth of July holiday.
The order prevented the federal government from moving the men until 4:30 p.m. ET. The administration had previously said it expected to fly the immigrants to South Sudan on Friday.
“On Independence Day, an activist judge sided with barbaric criminal illegal aliens over American citizens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on X.
During the hearing, a lawyer for the U.S. said that court orders pausing the deportations would make foreign countries less likely to accept transfers of migrants going forward.
Murphy had previously ruled that an immigrant could not be sent to a new country without a chance to have a court hearing. The Supreme Court vacated that decision.
What People Are Saying
Moss, at the hearing: “It seems to me almost self-evident that the United States government cannot take human beings and send them to circumstances in which their physical well-being is at risk simply either to punish them or send a signal to others.”
McLaughlin, in a statement: “We will continue to fight for the freedoms of Americans while these far left activists continue to try and force us to bring murderers, pedophiles, and rapists back to the U.S. Today, law and order prevails.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration initially planned to deport the men around 7 p.m. ET. It is unknown whether the process has been completed.
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