The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave President Donald Trump the go-ahead to deport undocumented Nigerians and other foreigners to third-party nations where they hold no citizenship in a ruling the Department of Homeland Security calls “a victory” for the American people.
The decision suspends a previous ruling from federal judge Brian Murphy, who adjudged that immigrants first be given a meaningful notice ahead of deportation and a chance to argue they won’t be tortured at the countries of destination.
The majority of the senior jurists sided with Mr Trump in an emergency ruling without providing reasons or citing sections of the law that backed their decision.
Per the ruling, Mr Trump can ship illegal immigrants, particularly those whose countries are not willing to accept them, to nations like South Sudan and Libya.
Against the majority, three dissenting liberal judges opined that the decision was too harsh and an abuse of the court process.
“Apparently, the Court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the Government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor alongside Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“The government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard,” she wrote.
The administration hailed the ruling, asserting it “a victory for the safety and security of the American people.”
“Fire up the deportation planes,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in response to the ruling on Monday. “DHS can now execute its lawful authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them.”
Mr Trump, who has long advocated that migrants with criminal records be deported to third-party nations, shipped eight migrants to South Sudan last month even though only one migrant was originally from the East African nation. All eight have criminal records.
However, the trip was cut short by Judge Murphy’s order after the migrants’ lawyers argued that their clients had not been given adequate notice before their expulsion.
The judge said the migrants had the right to contest their deportation.
The individuals landed on a U.S. military base Djibouti where ICE officers detained them in a container turned into a makeshift holding facility.
