Overview
- In an 81-page opinion, Judge Brian E. Murphy said migrants must receive actual advance notice and a chance to raise country-specific safety objections before third-country removals.
- The decision invalidates an ICE guideline that allowed deportations to non-native countries with as little as six hours’ notice.
- Murphy criticized the government’s reliance on vague diplomatic assurances from destination states and did not set a specific notice period.
- The Justice Department argued the practice is needed to remove criminal noncitizens when home countries refuse returns, and the case is expected to head back to the Supreme Court, which has already intervened twice and allowed eight removals to South Sudan.
- A Senate Democrats’ analysis says more than $40 million was spent on these removals last year, including $32 million in direct payments to El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Eswatini and Palau.