A federal judge temporarily stopped the deportation of eight immigrants to war-torn South Sudan on Friday. The case was transferred to a judge in Boston following a Fourth of July hearing where District Judge Randolph Moss determined that Judge Brian Murphy was better suited to address the issues at hand. Moss extended the order halting the deportation until 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, awaiting further action from Murphy who had previously halted the Trump administration’s deportation efforts to South Sudan.
The immigrants’ lawyers presented new claims that Moss believed warranted a hearing. The administration had been attempting to deport the immigrants, who are not from South Sudan, a country embroiled in civil war. The government had flown them to a U.S. Naval Base in Djibouti but was unable to proceed further due to Murphy’s previous ruling that immigrants must have a court hearing before being sent to a new country.
After the Supreme Court vacated Murphy’s decision and issued a new order allowing the immigrants to be moved to South Sudan, their lawyers filed an emergency request to halt the deportation. Moss briefly prevented the administration from transporting the immigrants from Djibouti to South Sudan pending the outcome of the hearing. The administration had planned to fly the immigrants to South Sudan on Friday. The temporary stay was initially reported by legal journalist Chris Geidner.
