US judge clears path for eight immigrants to be deported to South Sudan

 

A US judge has paved the way for the deportation of eight immigrants to South Sudan.

The Justice Department has announced that the individuals – which include nationals from Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba, and Myanmar – will be transported to South Sudan.

On Friday, eight migrants were unsuccessful in their final attempt to prevent their deportation to South Sudan by the Trump administration, paving the way for their imminent transfer following a judge's denial of their request in Massachusetts.

Attorneys representing the justice department indicated that the men were set to be flown to South Sudan at 7pm Eastern Time on Friday, after two courts reviewed the request on an emergency basis on July 4, a day when courts were typically closed for the Independence Day holiday.

Attorneys representing the migrants submitted new petitions in Washington late Thursday after the Supreme Court clarified that a judge in Massachusetts could no longer mandate the US Department of Homeland Security to detain them.

On Friday afternoon, District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington temporarily halted the deportation but referred the case back to US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston.

Judge Murphy indicated that the Supreme Court's directive compelled him to reject their request, stating that their assertions regarding deportation being utilized as a punitive measure were "substantially similar" to those he had previously adjudicated.

This order represents the latest development in the ongoing legal battle concerning the legitimacy of the Trump administration's strategy to discourage immigration through prominent deportations to nations where migrants claim they encounter safety risks, a matter that has already progressed from lower courts to the Supreme Court on two occasions.

The eight individuals facing deportation hail from various countries, including Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba, and Myanmar, with only one originating from South Sudan. All have been found guilty of serious offenses, which the Trump administration has highlighted to justify their expulsion. Many of them have either completed or are nearing the end of their prison sentences and possess "orders of removal" instructing them to exit the US.

A lawyer for the men have said they could “face perilous conditions” upon arriving in the country. South Sudan is enmeshed in civil war, and the US government advises no one should travel there before making their own funeral arrangements.

The administration has been trying to deport the immigrants for weeks. The government flew them to the US naval base in Djibouti but couldn’t move them further because Murphy had ruled no immigrant could be sent to a new country without a chance to have a court hearing.

Jennie Pasquarella, a lawyer with the Seattle Clemency Project who represents the migrants, called the ruling disappointing.

“Both courts’ decisions today have denied them their opportunity to have these claims heard and to protect their own lives,” she said. “That is what is so tragic about where we came out.”