Washington — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to lift a lower court order that blocked immigration authorities from removing migrants to third countries without first providing them certain due process rights while a legal battle over President Trump’s deportation efforts continues.
The request for emergency relief from Solicitor General D. John Sauer stems from a preliminary injunction granted by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy last month in a challenge brought by four migrants who are subject to final orders of removal.
The district judge’s order prevented the administration from deporting any migrant detainee unless it first provides written notice of the third country to which they may be removed and gives them a “meaningful opportunity” to raise a fear of torture in that third country, among other conditions. In his ruling, Murphy found it is likely that federal immigration officials “have applied and will continue to apply the alleged policy of removing aliens to third countries without notice and an opportunity to be heard on fear-based claims — in other words, without due process.”
“Defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed, without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation,” Murphy wrote. “All nine sitting justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the assistant solicitor general of the United States, Congress, common sense, basic decency, and this court all disagree.”
But in seeking relief from the Supreme Court, Sauer accused the district court of stalling the administration’s efforts to remove what he described as “some of the worst of the worst illegal aliens.”
“Those judicially created procedures are currently wreaking havoc on the third-country removal process,” Sauer wrote. “In addition to usurping the Executive’s authority over immigration policy, the injunction disrupts sensitive diplomatic, foreign-policy, and national-security efforts.”
The emergency appeal is the latest in which the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step into the slew of legal battles targeting many aspects of President Trump’s second-term agenda. But the president’s policies on immigration, in particular, have created escalating showdowns with the federal judiciary.
As part of Mr. Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration, his administration has approached countries like Libya, Rwanda and Costa Rica to accept migrants who are not their citizens, according to documents obtained by CBS News. The Trump administration has already sent more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they are being detained at its notorious prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
This is a developing story and will be updated
