The Trump administration may continue to rapidly deport immigrants to countries with which they have no ties as legal challenges unfold, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals voted 2 to 1 in favor of 1Yingshi There is no explanation for the circuit. The panel also expedited the next phase of the case.
As part of an aggressive immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to send immigrants outside their home countries, known as third-country deportations. It has struck deals with countries including Cameroon, South Sudan and Swaziland to take in deportees.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has defended the practice, saying it is aimed at deporting some of the most “savage” individuals living illegally in the United States. In court, the Trump administration has primarily argued that federal judges have no authority to intervene.
1Yingshi The circuit court majority consists of Judge Jeffrey Howard, nominated by former President George W. Bush, and Judge Seth Aflam, nominated by former President Biden. Biden nominee Lara Montecalvo was the lone dissenter.
It lifts restrictions on policies imposed by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, another Biden nominee who oversees a class-action lawsuit filed a year ago by four noncitizens.
“It is unfortunate that this order delays enforcement of the decision, but we applaud the First Circuit’s order to expeditiously resolve the merits of the government’s appeal,” said Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which represents immigrants.
The Trump administration took the case to the Supreme Court last year and won after Murphy restricted third-country deportations in the early stages of the case. In his final ruling last month, Murphy said substantive differences had arisen and blocked the policy again.
“This is not okay and it is not legal,” Murphy wrote.
His ruling requires the government to first try to transfer immigrants to a generally designated country or a country where they hold citizenship. The judge said that if these measures failed, they would be entitled to a “meaningful opportunity” to challenge the deportation once a third country was chosen.
Murphy has delayed implementation until 1Yingshi The circuit court may intervene. The new ruling will suspend his order until the appeal is resolved.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that its position was “reaffirmed.”
“The Biden administration has allowed millions of illegal aliens to flood into our country, and the Trump administration has the power to purge these criminal illegal aliens and clean up this national security nightmare,” the spokesperson said. “If these activist judges have their way, aliens so brutal that their own countries will not bring them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists, and drug dealers, will be walking free on the streets of America.”
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