Judge Claims Deporting Migrants to Third Countries Is Illegal

A Biden-appointed judge says Trump’s deputies cannot deport migrants to an unfamiliar country without allowing them to argue against the destination.

But, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy “paused his ruling for 15 days” to allow the administration to file an appeal, according to CBS News.

Murphy’s ruling comes after “a group of noncitizens” filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the outlet.

Murphy then ended up issuing a preliminary injunction, under which immigration officials were required to give “written notice of the third country” migrants were being sent to, as well as a chance to “raise fears of torture.”

“This new policy — which purports to stand in for the protections Congress has mandated — fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,'” Murphy wrote. “Whom do they cover? What do they cover? Why has the Government deemed them credible? How can anyone even know for certain that they exist? These are basic questions that the Constitution permits a person to ask before the Government takes away their last and only lifeline.”

Per the outlet, under the removal policy, “immigration officers did not need to give notice or an opportunity for migrants to contest their removal to third countries”:

Under the policy issued last March and reaffirmed last July, immigration officers did not need to give notice or an opportunity for migrants to contest their removal to third countries, so long as the government had received word from that country that deportees would not be persecuted or tortured. Third countries are those other than the ones designated on an immigrant’s order of removal.

Under the policy, accused illegal aliens are allowed “to challenge their removal” from the United States, but only if they have expressed “a fear,” according to the outlet. However, immigration officers “will not affirmatively ask whether the alien is afraid of being removed” to a certain country.