A federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Friday from deporting eight foreign nationals to South Sudan, just days after the Supreme Court sided with the administration in a related deportation case.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss issued an administrative stay on the morning of July 4, barring the Department of Homeland Security from “moving, transferring, or removing” the eight men while the court considers a new constitutional challenge to their removal. This marks the third time the removal efforts have been delayed by lower court intervention after the Supreme Court has twice said the removals can take place.
The decision came in response to an emergency habeas petition filed Thursday evening in Phan v. DHS, which argues that sending the men to the war-torn African nation would amount to unlawful punishment in violation of the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth amendments.
A hearing began at 12:30 p.m. on Friday despite the federal holiday, underscoring the urgency of the legal dispute. The case represents a new front in the broader legal fight over so-called third-country deportations, which allow the United States to remove people to nations other than their home country or one in which they have lawful status.
Moss expressed concerns about allowing the criminals to be sent to a third country due to vagueness surrounding the Supreme Court’s past two orders, yet he was also concerned that the case should be handled in Massachusetts rather than his court.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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