'Unquestionably in violation': Judge says US government didn't follow
court order on deportations
[May 22, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, MICHAEL CASEY, REBECCA SANTANA and
TIM SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House 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 Trump
administration said it had expelled eight immigrants convicted of
violent crimes but refused to reveal where they would end up. The
judge's statement was a notably strong rebuke to the government's
deportation efforts.
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 department actions in this case are unquestionably in violation of
this court’s order,” Murphy said Wednesday, arguing that the deportees
didn’t have “meaningful opportunity” to object to being sent to South
Sudan. 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 pointed
out that the judge had not specified the exact time needed between
notice and deportation, leaving room for misunderstanding.
The government calls the deported people ‘true national security
threats’
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. 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.
“These represent the true national security threats,” Lyons said at a
news conference. Behind him was a display of photos of men he said had
been convicted of rape, homicide, armed robbery and other crimes.
Administration officials, who have repeatedly clashed with the courts
over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants, made their
displeasure clear Wednesday.
President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are
working every single day to get these vicious criminals off of American
streets — and while activist judges are on the other side, fighting to
get them back onto the United States soil,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a
department spokesperson. She pointed to the photographs and described
them as “the monsters” that Murphy “is trying to protect.”
Homeland Security officials released few specific details about the
deportation flight. They said it left Tuesday with eight people on board
and said they remained in the department's custody Wednesday. Officials
said they could not disclose the migrants' final destination because of
“safety and operational security.”
The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Republican
administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are
living in the United States illegally. The legal fight is the latest
flashpoint as the administration rails against judges whose rulings have
slowed the president’s policies.
Lawsuits on immigration issues are everywhere
With Congress largely silent or supportive, opponents of Trump's agenda
have filed hundreds of lawsuits and judges have issued dozens of orders
against the administration. Immigration has been the most contentious
issue. There was the mistaken deportation of an immigrant who was living
in Maryland to a prison in El Salvador, as well as Trump’s push to
swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without a court review.
The administration officials insisted that the deported men had received
due process, but did not provide details. Immigration-rights attorneys
argue they violated Murphy's order, first handed down in March, that
says people must have a chance to argue that going somewhere outside
their homeland would put them in danger before being deported, even if
they've otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.
“The government is still refusing to provide due process to our clients,
which means they are not giving them notice of the country to which
they’re being deported, proper notice in a language that they
understand, and not giving them a meaningful opportunity to claim fear
based on those countries,” Trina Realmuto, the executive director of the
National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said outside court.
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Deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Madison
Sheahan, flanked by Acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons, speaks during a news conference at ICE
Headquarters, in Washington, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose
Luis Magana)
“These are countries that the State Department doesn’t want
Americans to travel to. They are categorically not safe,” she added.
In court, Realmuto asked the judge to return the individuals to the
United States. “They are no less deserving of protection than any
other human beings on this planet,” she said.
The government argued the interviews with the men over their fears
could be done where they are currently being held and confirmed with
Murphy that they can be arranged. Realmuto called this a “logistical
nightmare” that penalizes the men because the government violated
the judge’s order. She said it would prove a challenge to get the
men legal counsel and interpreters, an effort complicated by the
time difference.
Murphy, who raised the prospect of criminal contempt for anyone
“involved in an illegal deportation,” later Wednesday ordered the
government conduct a new set of interviews with the migrants if an
appropriate place with appropriate privacy can be found. He said the
government was welcome to bring the migrants back, but did not order
they do so.
On Twitter late Wednesday, DHS' McLaughlin called the order
“deranged.”
The countries of origin vary
Attorneys for the immigrants told the judge that immigration
authorities may have sent as many as a dozen people from several
countries to Africa.
The apparent removal of one man from the troubled Southeast Asian
nation of 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 lawyers
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 on Tuesday morning, attorneys from
the National Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.
Murphy, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden,
previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without
notice would “clearly” violate his ruling.
South Sudan says it's unaware of any arrivals
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
“redeported to their correct country” if found not to be South
Sudanese.
Edmund Yakani, executive director of the South Sudanese group
Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, questioned why
people convicted of crimes in the United States would be sent there.
“Is South Sudan a land of less human who deserve to receive
perpetrators of human rights violations? Without any public
explanation?” he asked.
Some countries do not accept deportations from the United States.
That has led the administration to strike agreements with other
countries, including Panama, to house them. The U.S. has sent
Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador under an
18th-century wartime law, an action being contested in the courts.
South Sudan has endured 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 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 Homeland Security Department has given Temporary Protected
Status to a small number of South Sudanese already living in the
United States, shielding them from deportation because conditions
were deemed unsafe for return. Noem recently extended those
protections to November to allow for a more thorough review.
The U.S is one of the biggest donors to South Sudan’s humanitarian
aid programs, with the total funding in 2024 standing at over $640
million.
___
Casey reported from Boston and Sullivan from Minneapolis. Elliot
Spagat in San Diego and Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi contributed to
this report.
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