A federal judge has temporarily stopped the Trump administration from deporting individuals who have exhausted all legal appeals to countries other than their own without first being given the chance to argue that it would put their safety at risk. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy has ruled that individuals with final removal orders must be provided with a “meaningful opportunity” to present their case that being deported to a third country poses a significant danger warranting protection. This order will remain in place until the case proceeds to the next phase of arguments.
This decision presents a setback for the administration, which has been deporting individuals to countries like Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador in cases where deportation to their home country proves challenging. In certain situations, a judge may find an individual’s home country too dangerous for return, allowing authorities to send them to a third country instead.
The Department of Homeland Security has yet to comment on the ruling, though administration lawyers have argued that a temporary halt would disrupt immigration enforcement efforts. Judge Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, supported advocacy groups such as the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of individuals who had been transferred to third countries or were at risk of being transferred soon.
One of the plaintiffs, a Guatemalan man identified only by initials in court documents, had been deported to Mexico, where he claims he was previously assaulted. Despite a U.S. immigration judge deeming it unsafe for him to return to Guatemala, the man was not given the opportunity to contest being sent to Mexico and is now in hiding in Guatemala.
Another plaintiff, a woman fearing deportation to a third country, was prohibited from being returned to Honduras by an immigration judge. She is apprehensive that she may be sent elsewhere during a mandatory check-in at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Dallas next week.
