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Judge:Admin in Violation of Court Order05/22 06:12
The White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries
with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal
judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration said it had expelled
eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes but refused to reveal where they
would end up. The judge's statement was a notably strong rebuke to the
government's deportation efforts.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House violated a court order on deportations to
third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South
Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the Trump administration
said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of violent crimes but refused
to reveal where they would end up. The judge's statement was a notably strong
rebuke to the government's deportation efforts.
In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had
been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight
migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object
that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing,
administration officials accused "activist judges" of advocating the release of
dangerous criminals.
"The department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of this
court's order," Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees didn't have
"meaningful opportunity" to object to being sent to South Sudan. The group was
flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no
chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.
Government attorneys argued that the men had a history with the immigration
system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to
a country outside their homeland. They also pointed out that the judge had not
specified the exact time needed between notice and deportation, leaving room
for misunderstanding.
The government calls the deported people 'true national security threats'
The migrants' home countries -- Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and
South Sudan -- would not take them back, according to Todd Lyons, the acting
director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who spoke to reporters in
Washington. He later said the migrants either came from countries that often do
not take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meant
they could not be sent home.
"These represent the true national security threats," Lyons said at a news
conference. Behind him was a display of photos of men he said had been
convicted of rape, homicide, armed robbery and other crimes.
Administration officials, who have repeatedly clashed with the courts over
their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants, made their displeasure
clear Wednesday.
President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "are
working every single day to get these vicious criminals off of American streets
-- and while activist judges are on the other side, fighting to get them back
onto the United States soil," said Tricia McLaughlin, a department
spokesperson. She pointed to the photographs and described them as "the
monsters" that Murphy "is trying to protect."
Homeland Security officials released few specific details about the
deportation flight. They said it left Tuesday with eight people on board and
said they remained in the department's custody Wednesday. Officials said they
could not disclose the migrants' final destination because of "safety and
operational security."
The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Republican
administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living
in the United States illegally. The legal fight is the latest flashpoint as the
administration rails against judges whose rulings have slowed the president's
policies.
Lawsuits on immigration issues are everywhere
With Congress largely silent or supportive, opponents of Trump's agenda have
filed hundreds of lawsuits and judges have issued dozens of orders against the
administration. Immigration has been the most contentious issue. There was the
mistaken deportation of an immigrant who was living in Maryland to a prison in
El Salvador, as well as Trump's push to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang
members without a court review.
The administration officials insisted that the deported men had received due
process, but did not provide details. Immigration-rights attorneys argue they
violated Murphy's order, first handed down in March, that says people must have
a chance to argue that going somewhere outside their homeland would put them in
danger before being deported, even if they've otherwise exhausted their legal
appeals.
"The government is still refusing to provide due process to our clients,
which means they are not giving them notice of the country to which they're
being deported, proper notice in a language that they understand, and not
giving them a meaningful opportunity to claim fear based on those countries,"
Trina Realmuto, the executive director of the National Immigration Litigation
Alliance, said outside court.
"These are countries that the State Department doesn't want Americans to
travel to. They are categorically not safe," she added.
In court, Realmuto asked the judge to return the individuals to the United
States. "They are no less deserving of protection than any other human beings
on this planet," she said.
The government argued the interviews with the men over their fears could be
done where they are currently being held and confirmed with Murphy that they
can be arranged. Realmuto called this a "logistical nightmare" that penalizes
the men because the government violated the judge's order. She said it would
prove a challenge to get the men legal counsel and interpreters, an effort
complicated by the time difference.
Murphy, who raised the prospect of criminal contempt for anyone "involved in
an illegal deportation," later Wednesday ordered the government conduct a new
set of interviews with the migrants if an appropriate place with appropriate
privacy can be found. He said the government was welcome to bring the migrants
back, but did not order they do so.
On Twitter late Wednesday, DHS' McLaughlin called the order "deranged."
The countries of origin vary
Attorneys for the immigrants told the judge that immigration authorities may
have sent as many as a dozen people from several countries to Africa.
The apparent removal of one man from the troubled Southeast Asian nation of
Myanmar was confirmed in an email from an immigration official in Texas,
according to court documents. He was informed only in English, a language he
does not speak well, and his lawyers learned of the plan hours before his
deportation flight, they said.
A woman also reported that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other
people were flown to Africa on Tuesday morning, attorneys from the National
Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.
Murphy, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, previously
found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would "clearly"
violate his ruling.
South Sudan says it's unaware of any arrivals
South Sudan's police spokesperson, Maj. Gen. James Monday Enoka, told The
Associated Press on Wednesday that no migrants had arrived in the country and
that if they do, they would be investigated and "redeported to their correct
country" if found not to be South Sudanese.
Edmund Yakani, executive director of the South Sudanese group Community
Empowerment for Progress Organization, questioned why people convicted of
crimes in the United States would be sent there. "Is South Sudan a land of less
human who deserve to receive perpetrators of human rights violations? Without
any public explanation?" he asked.
Some countries do not accept deportations from the United States. That has
led the administration to strike agreements with other countries, including
Panama, to house them. The U.S. has sent Venezuelans to a notorious prison in
El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law, an action being contested in the
courts.
South Sudan has endured repeated waves of violence since gaining
independence from Sudan in 2011 amid hopes it could use its large oil reserves
to bring prosperity to a region long battered by poverty. Just weeks ago, the
country's top U.N. official warned that fighting between forces loyal to the
president and a vice president threatened to spiral again into full-scale civil
war.
The State Department's annual report on South Sudan, published in April
2024, says "significant human rights issues" include arbitrary killings,
disappearances, torture or inhumane treatment by security forces and extensive
violence based on gender and sexual identity.
The Homeland Security Department has given Temporary Protected Status to a
small number of South Sudanese already living in the United States, shielding
them from deportation because conditions were deemed unsafe for return. Noem
recently extended those protections to November to allow for a more thorough
review.
The U.S is one of the biggest donors to South Sudan's humanitarian aid
programs, with the total funding in 2024 standing at over $640 million.
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