The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to immediately resume its policy of deporting some migrants to countries where they are not citizens, a key and controversial part of its mass deportation agenda.
The move comes after a panel of a Boston-based appeals court upheld last week a federal judge’s final ruling that the policy violates migrants’ due process rights. Late Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit dissolved an injunction that had allowed the flights to continue.
The court ruled that migrants had not been given sufficient notice or a chance to raise claims they might face torture or persecution in the countries where they were being sent.
The administration asked the justices to pause that decision while it also asks the high court to take up an appeal of the ruling. It’s unclear how quickly the high court might act on the request for a stay, but it typically takes weeks or months to decide whether to accept an appeal on its merits docket.
“Without even allowing the government a chance to respond, and in the dark of night, a federal appeals court blocked us from conducting all third-country removals of illegal aliens, an entirely legal and invaluable tool to stem the tide of illegal immigration,” Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X.
The Department of Homeland Security has sent more than 25,000 migrants to “third countries” — mostly in Latin America and Africa — since Trump enacted the policy after taking office last year.
Immigrant advocates and human rights groups have objected to the program, saying deportees often face inhumane conditions and poor treatment in countries where they have no connection.
The administration says such removals are necessary to deport violent criminals whose home countries refuse to accept them or who are barred by federal law from being sent back because they face persecution.
“The unexpected springing-back of district court’s order has, this Office is informed, created substantial logistical problems with ongoing removal operations — including the cancellation of flights — and led to added expense, potential diplomatic issues, and the inability to remove dangerous criminals,” the administration wrote in its filing with the high court.
DHS issued a memo last year stating it could deport migrants to third countries with no advance notice if a country had assured U.S. officials that a deportee would not be persecuted or tortured.
Four noncitizens sued to block the third-country deportation policy in March 2025, arguing that their rights and those of other immigrants were being violated. The same case has previously been before the Supreme Court on an emergency basis.
“It is not at all surprising that the administration is now asking the Supreme Court to stay the First Circuit’s decision — the administration has publicly and repeatedly said it wants to continue sending people to third countries where we know that they face horrific and potentially life-threatening conditions,” Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, who was among the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
A divided Supreme Court in June 2025 allowed the administration to go forward with third-country deportations, after a lower court issued a temporary block saying that migrants must have a “meaningful opportunity” to challenge their removal.
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