Judge says the US violated a court order on deportations to third countries

WASHINGTON (AP):

The Trump administration violated a court order on deportations to third countries with a flight linked to the chaotic African nation of South Sudan, a federal judge said Wednesday, hours after the administration said it had expelled eight migrants convicted of violent crimes in the United States but refused to reveal where they would end up.

In an emergency hearing he called to address reports that immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston said the eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger. Minutes before the hearing, administration officials accused “activist judges” of advocating the release of dangerous criminals.

The group was flown out of the United States just hours after getting notice, leaving them no chance to contact lawyers who could object in court.

Government attorneys argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland. They also said that immigration authorities may have misunderstood the order because the judge did no’t specify the time needed between notice and deportation.

The migrants’ home countries – Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan – would not take them back, according to Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who spoke to reporters in Washington just before the court hearing. He later said the migrants either came from countries that often do not take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meant they could not be sent home.

Homeland Security officials released few specific details about the deportation flight. They said the flight left Tuesday with eight people on board and that they remained in the department’s custody Wednesday. Officials said they could not disclose the migrants’ final destination because of “safety and operational security.”

South Sudan’s police spokesperson, Maj. Gen. James Monday Enoka, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that no migrants had arrived in the country and that if they do, they would be investigated and “re-deported to their correct country” if found not to be South Sudanese.