Trump Asks Supreme Court to Lift Deportation Restrictions

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to lift a judge’s order blocking authorities from removing migrants to countries with which they have no ties, warning it is “wreaking havoc.”

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued the injunction in April, but it has taken on increased prominence after the judge found the administration violated the ruling last week by attempting to deport a group of eight migrants with violent criminal convictions to South Sudan.

In response, the plane instead landed at a military base in Djibouti so the migrants can first have an opportunity to contest their removals to South Sudan, a war-torn country that has seen a surge of violence in recent months.

“The district court’s invented process offers little but delay. While certain aliens may benefit from stalling their removal, the Nation does not,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the Supreme Court.

As part of its broader immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has looked to employ third country removals, meaning when authorities deport a migrant to a country other than the one on their deportation order issued by an immigration judge.

Murphy, an appointee of former President Biden who serves in Boston, blocked such deportations unless the administration gives the migrant sufficient notice and an opportunity to raise claims that they will face persecution.

The South Sudan flight came after Murphy warned that the administration’s earlier plans to deport migrants to Libya and Saudi Arabia would violate his order.

The Trump administration has increasingly sparred with the judge, arguing the deportations are within the executive branch’s undisputed statutory authority and the courts have no jurisdiction to intervene.

Administration officials have also stressed the violent history of the eight migrants who were set to be deported to South Sudan, including those with murder and sexual offense convictions.

“Those judicially created procedures are currently wreaking havoc on the third country removal process,” Sauer wrote in the new application.

“In addition to usurping the Executive’s authority over immigration policy, the injunction disrupts sensitive diplomatic, foreign-policy, and national-security efforts. Recent events vividly illustrate the injunction’s pathologies.”