(AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted restrictions on the deportations of immigrants to countries that are not their own, while agreeing to hear the issue on its merits in December. The conservative-dominated high court granted an emergency request by the Trump administration to suspend a lower court ruling that restricted, but did not outright ban, so-called “third-country removals.”
The lower court had said people targeted with deportation must be given effective notice ahead of time about where they are being sent to allow them to raise concerns about potential persecution. The three liberal justices on the nine-member bench said they would not have granted the administration’s request. President Donald Trump campaigned on promises to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States and has taken several actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House in 2025.
The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them. In a brief to the Supreme Court, opponents of lifting the restrictions argued that the lower court ruling did not fully block all third-country deportations, “it simply requires them to do so lawfully.” Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, meanwhile told the court that the rapid deportation to third countries was “an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens.” The lower court ruling “created substantial logistical problems” with removals, he said.
An AFP investigation found that the US has offered multimillion-dollar deals and threatened visa restrictions in a bid to get “third countries,” especially in Africa, to take such deportees. Once in these countries — and outside US jurisdiction — deportees have been subject to abuse by local guards, indefinite detention, or quickly re-deported to their home countries. According to an investigation published last week, the United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to United Nations agencies to facilitate the returns. The vast majority of the deportees — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalized with seven more. Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or they could be subject to torture.
After the high court’s ruling, some Democratic lawmakers were calling for more formalized steps to prevent such deportations and uphold due process. “Congress must step in. No one should be shipped off to a country that is not their own without basic due process and a meaningful opportunity to raise legitimate fears for their safety,” House Democrat Lois Frankel said on X. Rob Menendez, another congressional Democrat, called the Supreme Court’s decision “indefensible.” “Taxpayers shouldn’t fund tearing people from the only home they’ve ever known, nor should our legal system fast-track these unilateral deportations.”
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