US Judge Blocks Trump-Era Policy Allowing Swift Deportations to Third Countries Without Due Process

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had adopted an unlawful policy allowing the rapid deportation of migrants to countries other than their own without giving them an opportunity to object or raise concerns about their safety.

 

US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued a final ruling declaring the US Department of Homeland Security’s policy invalid, in a case the administration expects will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court.

 

The policy, adopted in March 2025 as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, failed to protect the due process rights of migrants who, without notice, could be swiftly deported to “an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous country”, Murphy said.

Murphy noted that the administration had argued it would be acceptable for immigration officers to deport individuals to so-called third countries they did not originate from, provided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was unaware of any immediate threat to their lives upon arrival.

 

“It is not fine, nor is it lawful,” Murphy wrote. He was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.

 

The judge set aside the policy and ruled that migrants subject to it were entitled to meaningful notice and an opportunity to raise objections to removal to third countries. However, he suspended the effect of his ruling for 15 days to allow the administration time to appeal, citing the case’s “importance and its unusual history”.

 

He referred to earlier interventions by the Supreme Court, which had lifted a preliminary injunction Murphy issued in April protecting migrants facing deportation to third countries, and later allowed eight men to be sent to South Sudan.

 

While that earlier injunction was in force, it hampered the administration’s efforts to send migrants to countries other than their places of origin, including South Sudan, Libya and El Salvador.

 

A DHS spokesperson said the department was “confident we will be vindicated again”, pointing to the Supreme Court’s earlier rulings in its favour.

 

“DHS must be allowed to exercise its lawful authority and remove illegal migrants to a country willing to accept them,” the spokesperson said.

 

Wednesday’s ruling came in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of migrants facing deportation to countries not previously named in their removal orders or identified during immigration court proceedings.

 

Under the policy, migrants could be deported to such countries if immigration authorities had credible diplomatic assurances they would not face persecution or torture, or if they were given as little as six hours’ notice of their removal.

 

Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, described the ruling as “a forceful statement from the court that the administration’s third-country removal policy is unconstitutional”.

 

“Under the government’s policy, people have been forcibly returned to countries where US immigration judges have found they will be persecuted or tortured,” Realmuto said.

 

Department of Justice lawyers had argued the policy complied with immigration law and due process requirements and was necessary to deport migrants whose home countries refused to accept them because of crimes they had committed.

 

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