BURSTImmigration attorneys on Tuesday alleged the Trump administration deported to South Sudan a group of migrants who are not from the war-torn country, in violation of a court order.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, an appointee of former President Biden who serves in Boston, previously ordered the administration to provide certain notice to migrants before removing them to a third country where they have no ties.
Tuesday’s filing accuses the administration of violating that injunction when a group of migrants left the country on a plane to South Sudan in recent hours, asking Murphy to order their return to the United States.
“Return is imminently reasonable—and necessary—in such a situation, as the Supreme Court recognized in recent weeks,” the immigration attorneys wrote, referencing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Murphy’s injunction, issued last month, requires the administration to provide a noncitizen and their attorney with written notice in a language they can understand before removing them to a third country. The migrant must also be afforded a “meaningful opportunity” to raise claims that they would face persecution or torture if deported there, Murphy ruled.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, erupted into civil war soon after it gained independence in 2011. A peace deal has recently collapsed, with the immigration attorneys warning their clients are being flown into a country “that is now returning to full-blown and catastrophic civil war.”
The new filing identifies two specific migrants who were removed, a Burmese and a Vietnamese national, who are referred to by their initials in court documents. But the attorneys indicated there were “likely” at least 10 other migrants on the plane, citing an email from the Vietnamese national’s partner.
“They cannot be allowed to do this, this is not the first and won’t be the last if they keep getting away with it! I am begging for your assistance,” the person wrote to one of her husband’s attorneys in a Tuesday email.
The legal team comprises the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Human Rights First.
The development comes days after the judge warned the Trump administration that its reported plans to deport a group of migrants to Libya would violate his order.
It also comes as Murphy is set to hold a Wednesday hearing in the same case on whether to require the administration to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his asserted fear of persecution.
The administration previously indicated the man had told authorities he was not afraid of returning to Mexico, but the Justice Department acknowledged on Friday that was an error.