In a court decision Wednesday, a federal judge issued a resounding rebuke of a Trump administration policy that has expanded the deportation of immigrants to “so-called ‘third countries’” where they have no ties.

The policy, which was detailed in Department of Homeland Security memos last year, allowed the administration to deport people to places other than their home country, without prior notice. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy ruled Wednesday that the policy was illegal and did not provide sufficient due process protections.

Murphy, appointed by Biden, determined that the administration should attempt to deport people to other designated countries before proceeding with their removal to a “third country.” Additionally, if officials attempted to deport someone to a third country, they would have to provide that person with “significant notice” and an “opportunity to present a country-specific claim against the removal.”

A group of Venezuelan immigrants were previously deported to El Salvador, a country that reportedly agreed to accept American deportees.
A group of Venezuelan immigrants were previously deported to El Salvador, a country that reportedly agreed to accept American deportees.

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“The Department of Homeland Security has adopted a policy whereby it can take people and drop them off in unknown locations (in so-called ‘third countries’) and, ‘as long as the Department does not know that there is someone there waiting to shoot… that is fine,’” Murphy wrote in his decision. “It’s not okay and it’s not legal.”

Murphy stayed his ruling for 15 days to give the administration a chance to appeal.

“The Supreme Court previously issued two separate emergency stays against Judge Brian Murphy in this case, and we are confident we will be vindicated again,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement.

“DHS should be allowed to execute its legal authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them,” the spokesperson added.

DHS previously detailed its third-country deportation policy in a memo last March. He stated that people could be deported to third countries if the administration received credible “assurances” from those places that the immigrants would not be “persecuted or tortured.” In a July memo, a federal official allegedly claimed that people could be deported to third countries with as little as six hours’ notice even without these guarantees, according to The Washington Post.

Since the start of Trump’s term, the administration has reached deportation agreements with countries, including El SalvadorRwanda and Guatemala, according to The New York Times. Several countries with which it has reached such agreements have faced scrutiny for past human rights abuses, for the interception.

If the government appeals this decision, the legal fight could end up in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the Supreme Court stayed a Murphy ruling that gave detainees more opportunities to challenge possible removal to a third country.