Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Revival of Third-Country Deportations

In an emergency petition filed Thursday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to reinstate its policy of deporting certain migrants to countries other than their nations of origin. The practice was halted by a federal judge last February, a decision largely affirmed by an appellate court last week, on the grounds that it denied deportees their due process rights.

The Justice Department is seeking to pause the February 2026 order, which mandated that immigration officials provide notice and an opportunity for challenge before attempting to remove individuals to a “third country” where they have no ties. A stay would permit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue sending detainees to these nations based on blanket assurances from receiving countries that they will not face persecution or torture.

Attorneys with the Justice Department noted that DHS was forced to cancel a flight carrying 70 potential deportees, some with criminal records, to three third countries following the adverse rulings from judges in Boston. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the emergency appeal that the policy has facilitated the removal of “thousands” of individuals recently and that “thousands more” qualify for deportation under the same framework.

“These include some of the worst of the worst criminal aliens — whose home countries refuse to take them back,” Sauer wrote, adding that the lower court’s decision impedes DHS’s ability to efficiently remove aliens under a policy that has been active for 15 months.

Sauer further contended that the judicial intervention undermines U.S. diplomatic standing. He described the process of finding nations willing to accept deportees as a “delicate diplomatic endeavor” and warned that the courts’ actions risk causing “significant and irreparable harm to U.S. foreign policy” by disrupting carefully negotiated arrangements.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has jurisdiction over emergency appeals from Massachusetts, granted lawyers representing the immigrants until Monday afternoon to respond. Sauer requested temporary relief from Jackson pending the Court’s review of the emergency appeal.

As part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration, the Trump administration has secured agreements with dozens of nations, primarily in Africa and Latin America, to accept U.S. deportees who are not their citizens. Some of the African countries involved, including Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, have been noted for repressive governments, armed conflict, and widespread poverty.

While countries like Eswatini and South Sudan have accepted deportees with serious criminal histories, others such as Liberia have received migrants with no criminal records beyond U.S. immigration violations. In Liberia, CBS News interviewed individuals from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela who reported feeling stateless after being deported to West Africa without prior notification or a chance to contest the removal.

Immigration officials have primarily targeted two groups under this campaign: immigrants who obtained limited legal protections in court preventing deportation to their home countries, and detainees whose countries of origin limit or reject U.S. deportations.

This legal battle has previously reached the Supreme Court. Last year, in a divided ruling, the high court permitted the administration to resume third-country deportations while litigation proceeded, lifting a previous order that had required the government to allow immigrants to raise fears of torture or persecution before removal.