Supreme Court's Pause Allows Fast, Third-Country Deportation

Lower court objected to administration not allowing migrants to raise fears about safety, persecution
Posted Jun 23, 2025 5:58 PM CDT
Justices Let Fast Deportations to Third Countries Resume
A military aircraft waits for migrants to board from a bus at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, in January for their deportation to Guatemala.   (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)

The Supreme Court on Monday put a lower court's order on hold, allowing the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to countries that are foreign to them—without giving the deportees an opportunity to make a case that they'd face persecution or death. The brief, unsigned ruling lifts Judge Brian Murphy's order blocking the government from quickly taking migrants to third countries without allowing certain steps, NBC News reports. The ruling involved the administration's attempt to send deportees to South Sudan with less than 24 hours' notice, an effort that the government now can resume.

The three justices appointed by Democratic presidents dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that the Supreme Court was "rewarding lawlessness" by letting the administration violate due process rights and that "thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales," per CBS News. The majority gave no reasons for its decision. Murphy's order will be paused while the administration's appeal of it proceeds, per the New York Times. The men destined for South Sudan are being held at a US base in Djibouti. (More Supreme Court stories.)

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