The Supreme Court has authorized the Trump administration to move forward with the deportation of eight migrants with violent criminal convictions to South Sudan, overturning lower court orders that had temporarily blocked their removal. The New York Post reports, in a 7-2 decision, the Court lifted an order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that had prevented the deportations. The Trump administration argues that the men committed crimes so “monstrous and barbaric” that no other nation would accept them. The group includes a sex offender from Myanmar, a convicted murderer from Laos, and others from Cuba and Vietnam.
Judge Murphy, who was appointed by President Biden, had previously ruled that migrants facing removal to third countries should be given a meaningful opportunity to argue they would face torture or persecution if sent there. The eight men, all convicted of serious crimes in the United States, were originally placed on a flight to South Sudan in May. That flight was diverted to Djibouti after the lower court intervened, and the men have since been detained at a U.S. military facility there.
The Trump administration argued that the lower court’s injunction was an act of “defiance” and sought Supreme Court intervention to clarify that its June 23 decision, allowing expedited deportations to third countries, applied to these cases as well.
“The only authority [Murphy] cited was the dissent from the stay order,” the justices in the majority noted Thursday. “The May 21 remedial order cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable,” the unsigned ruling stated, confirming that the Biden-appointed judge’s injunction is no longer valid, according to The Post.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
Homeland Security officials hailed the ruling as a victory for the rule of law and public safety. The administration has pursued agreements with third countries to accept deportees when their home countries refuse repatriation. Authorities indicated the deportation flight would proceed quickly, with the men expected to arrive in South Sudan imminently.