US must keep control of migrants sent to South Sudan in case removals
were unlawful, judge rules
[May 21, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials
must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South
Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling
after an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the
Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar
and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals
to other countries.
Murphy said the government must “maintain custody and control of class
members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third
country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court
finds that such removals were unlawful.”
While Murphy left the details to the government's discretion, he said he
expects the migrants “will be treated humanely.”
Attorneys for the migrants told the judge that immigration authorities
may have sent up to a dozen people from several countries to Africa,
which they argue violates a court order saying people must get a
“meaningful opportunity” to argue that sending them to a country outside
their homeland would threaten their safety.
The apparent removal of one man from Myanmar was confirmed in an email
from an immigration official in Texas, according to court documents. He
was informed only in English, a language he does not speak well, and his
attorneys learned of the plan hours before his deportation flight, they
said.
A woman also reported that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other
people were flown to Africa Tuesday morning, attorneys from the National
Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.
The attorneys asked Murphy for an emergency court order to prevent the
deportations. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden,
previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice
would “clearly” violate his ruling, which also applies to people who
have otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.
[to top of second column]
|
Murphy said in his Tuesday order that U.S. officials must appear in
court Wednesday to identify the migrants impacted, address when and
how they learned they would be removed to a third country, and what
opportunity they were given to raise a fear-based claim. He also
ruled that the government must provide information about the
whereabouts of the migrants apparently already removed.
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not
immediately return messages seeking comment.
Some countries do not accept deportations from the United States,
which has led the Trump administration to strike agreements with
other countries, including Panama, to house them. The Trump
administration has sent Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El
Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law hotly contested in the
courts.
South Sudan has suffered repeated waves of violence since gaining
independence from Sudan in 2011 amid hopes it could use its large
oil reserves to bring prosperity to a region long battered by
poverty. Just weeks ago, the country’s top U.N. official warned that
fighting between forces loyal to the president and a vice president
threatened to spiral again into full-scale civil war.
The situation is “darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 conflicts,
which took over 400,000 lives,” Nicholas Haysom, head of the almost
20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission.
The U.S. State Department’s annual report on South Sudan, published
in April 2024, says “significant human rights issues” include
arbitrary killings, disappearances, torture or inhumane treatment by
security forces and extensive violence based on gender and sexual
identity.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department has given Temporary Protected
Status to a small number of South Sudanese already living in the
United States since the country was founded in 2011, shielding them
from deportation because conditions were deemed unsafe for return.
Secretary Kristi Noem recently extended those protections to
November to allow for a more thorough review.
___
Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana, Tim Sullivan and Elliot
Spagat contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
