Supreme Court allows Trump administration to resume third-country deportations
SCOTUS ruling allows Trump third-country deportations
Immigration attorney Mariam Masumi Daud joins LiveNOW's Andrew Craft to discuss Monday's Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration to move forward with third-country deportations.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to continue deporting migrants to countries other than their own for now while the justices consider whether the policy is legal.
Supreme Court allows deportations to resume for now
Big picture view:
The apparent 6-3 order temporarily lifts lower court requirements that migrants be given an opportunity to object before being deported to countries where they have no ties.
The Trump administration said last week that a lower court order had forced the cancellation of a deportation flight carrying about 70 people bound for three countries.
The Supreme Court is temporarily allowing the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to third countries while the legal challenge continues.(Credit: Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
The justices will consider whether the policy is lawful, whether lower courts had the authority to hear the case and issue a broad block on the policy, and other questions raised by the government.
Conservative majority allows policy to resume
Dig deeper:
Trump’s Republican administration has said that it sends people with final deportation orders to third countries when they can’t be returned to their homelands or their native countries won’t accept them, including those who have criminal convictions. Those governments provide assurances that people won’t be persecuted or tortured, federal attorneys said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche called the policy "an entirely lawful and critical tool for immigration enforcement."
The other side:
Attorneys for migrants have argued that some people have been imprisoned in countries they had never heard of before arriving and that others face serious safety risks. They say some migrants have no criminal convictions and have been found to face a risk of torture or persecution if returned to their home countries.
What's next:
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case in December.
Immigration crackdown continues
The backstory:
The case comes as the Trump administration pursues a broad immigration crackdown and has pledged to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally.
The Supreme Court has previously allowed the administration to temporarily continue deportation flights involving migrants sent to third countries while legal challenges proceed.
Under a series of often-secret agreements, the administration has deported about 25,000 people to more than two dozen countries, including Liberia and Guyana. The vast majority have been sent to Mexico.
The Source: This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press contributed.