US Deports 8 Illegal Migrants to South Sudan

The Trump administration deported eight illegal immigrants to South Sudan on Saturday after a federal judge cleared the way on Friday.

“After weeks of delays by activist judges that put our law enforcement in danger, ICE deported these 8 barbaric criminal illegal aliens who are so heinous even their own countries will not accept them,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated on social media platform X Saturday. “This was a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people.”

In a brief ruling on July 4, District Judge Brian Murphy rejected a bid to prevent the DHS from deporting the illegal immigrants to South Sudan, just hours after District Judge Randolph Moss had temporarily halted the deportations and returned the case to Murphy.

The eight individuals, all charged with crimes, were being held in a U.S. military facility in Djibouti amid the ongoing litigation.

In May, Murphy ordered DHS to retain custody of the plaintiffs after he found that the department had deported about a dozen illegal immigrants from countries such as Vietnam and Burma (also known as Myanmar) to South Sudan in violation of a preliminary injunction he issued on April 18—which barred the deportation of illegal immigrants to a third country without first giving them a chance to raise any fear-based claims.

The Supreme Court last month blocked the April 18 injunction issued by Murphy that had barred DHS from deporting illegal immigrants to a third country of which they are not citizens.

Murphy later stated that his May order blocking the deportation of the eight illegal immigrants was still in effect, prompting the administration’s lawyers to seek clarification from the Supreme Court.

The court clarified on July 3 that its order also applied to the eight illegal immigrants, which it said has rendered Murphy’s May 21 injunction “unenforceable.”

Lawyers for the deportees filed a new petition following that ruling, which Murphy denied on July 4, citing the Supreme Court’s previous orders.

“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,” the judge stated in a brief ruling.

Commenting on the ruling, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin accused Murphy of siding with “barbaric criminal illegal aliens” in his previous ruling, and expressed relief over the recent decision allowing the deportations to move forward.

“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.,” McLaughlin stated on X. “Today, law and order prevails.”

Jennie Pasquarella, a lawyer with the Seattle Clemency Project representing the illegal immigrants, called the ruling disappointing and said the plaintiffs are not planning to file an appeal.

Pasquarella said that no court would hear their claim that the Trump administration was unconstitutionally using deportation to dangerous countries as a form of punishment, on top of the criminal sentences they have already served.

“Both courts’ decisions today have denied them their opportunity to have these claims heard and to protect their own lives. That is what is so tragic about where we came out,” the lawyer said.

Justice Department lawyers have said that the administration intends to deport the eight foreigners to South Sudan on July 4.

The individuals, whose lawyers said they were from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Burma, Sudan, and Vietnam, had argued that their deportations to South Sudan would violate the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

Justice Department lawyers previously said that among the illegal immigrants deported to South Sudan were a Vietnamese man who was convicted of murder and another individual convicted of rape.