US Supreme Court Allows Trump To Deport Migrants To Third Countries

The United States Supreme Court on Monday granted its assent to Donald Trump’s administration to resume the deportation of migrants to countries other than their homeland, reported AP. The court overturned a lower court’s order that required the government to give migrants a "meaningful opportunity" to explain what risks they may face after being deported.

U.S. District Judge Brian E Murphy in Boston had earlier upheld his previous ruling when immigration officials put eight people on a plane to South Sudan in May. According to the judge, the deportation had violated a previous order that migrants must have a chance to argue that they could be tortured or killed if they were removed to third countries, regardless of the status of their other legal appeals. 

The case involved eight migrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos and Vietnam with the Trump administration claiming them to be “the worst of the worst.” After the lower court’s ruling, the migrants were taken to a US naval base in Djibouti.

The apex court reversed the lower court’s decision by a majority of 6-3, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting from the majority ruling. The justices argued that the move “rewarded lawlessness.”

US Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court that immigration agents had "been forced to establish a makeshift detention facility for dangerous criminals" in a converted conference room, reported BBC.

He added that the government was unable to deport these violent criminals to their homeland as those nations refused to welcome them back, which allowed them to stay in the US "victimising law-abiding Americans".

The decision comes amid a crackdown on immigrants by the Trump administration. The US Supreme Court had earlier allowed the Trump administration to revoke the legal status of over 500,000 migrants living in the US.