The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to resume deporting migrants to countries where they are not citizens, a central element of its mass deportation agenda, AP News reported.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the administration would petition the high court to permit the continued swift removal of immigrants to so-called third countries, different from their nation of origin.
The move follows a federal appeals court ruling that upheld a lower court decision blocking rapid removals to third countries without a meaningful opportunity for migrants to contest their deportations.
The administration’s filing seeks to lift a federal judge’s order barring third-country deportations unless migrants receive notice and a genuine chance to argue they face a risk of persecution or torture.
Blanche took to X to express his frustration, writing: “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.”
President Trump has increasingly relied on third-country removals as part of his aggressive immigration crackdown, signing agreements with nations across the globe, many located in Africa.
According to the immigrant rights organization Human Rights First, approximately 25,000 people have been deported to third countries since the administration began its immigration enforcement push.
The deportation flights had proceeded for months after the Supreme Court sided with the president at an earlier stage of the legal battle, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit again ordered them halted.
The 1st Circuit ruled that migrants must receive a better opportunity to raise claims that they face the risk of torture before being deported to countries they have no connection to.
Last year, the administration brought an earlier version of this dispute to the Supreme Court, which lifted a temporary block on the flights over the dissents of the court’s liberal justices.
Days after that initial ruling, the court again sided with Trump, rejecting a judge’s contention that a deportation flight to South Sudan had defied his order.
The Supreme Court is now being asked to weigh in on a final ruling issued by Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee based in Boston, whose decision the 1st Circuit upheld last week.
The high court’s previous orders have effectively enabled third-country deportations to continue since last summer, making its response to this latest petition critically important for the administration’s immigration strategy.
