Overview
- U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts set aside DHS’s 2025 policy enabling rapid removals to countries other than migrants’ listed destinations without meaningful notice or a chance to object.
- Murphy held that noncitizens must receive advance, “meaningful notice” and an opportunity to raise fears of persecution or torture before any third‑country removal proceeds.
- The decision follows a class action brought by immigrant‑rights groups and applies to people with final orders of removal on or after Feb. 18, 2025 whose paperwork did not name the third country.
- The policy, outlined in a March memo and July guidance, permitted deportations based on diplomatic “assurances” or as little as six hours’ notice, and instructed officers not to affirmatively ask about fear.
- The case has seen repeated Supreme Court interventions, including orders last year that allowed certain removals such as to South Sudan, and the administration is expected to pursue an appeal to the First Circuit.