Trump administration challenges court ruling on deportation flights to South Sudan

The Donald Trump administration on Friday filed two court documents against a ruling by district judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts, which said that a deportation flight to South Sudan violated his previous April injunction which allows deportees time to challenge an order to be sent to a country other than their own.

In the first filing, secretary of state Marco Rubio noted the order has already "complicated" US diplomacy with Libya, South Sudan and Djibouti, and presents a "serious threat" to the the US president’s authority to conduct foreign policy, Fox News reported.

As per the filing, the ruling "interferes with the quiet diplomatic efforts and exacerbated internal political and security divisions" in Libya.


The order also threatens to "derail efforts to quietly rebuild a productive working relationship South Sudan," it added.

Rubio further said the order "causes harm" in Djibouti, which is "strategically located in the Horn of Africa" and is home to the only US military base on the African continent.

The deportees are being temporarily held at an American Naval base in Djibouti.

Meanwhile, in the second filing, the Trump administration urged the court to "reconsider" its decision.

"Because of the order, the US government is currently detaining dangerous criminals in a sensitive location without clear knowledge of when, how, or where this court will tolerate their release. This development has put impermissible, burdensome constraints on the President’s ability to carry out his Article II powers, including his powers to command the military, manage relations with foreign nations, and execute our nation’s immigration authorities" the filing stated.

The deportees "enjoyed the benefit of full process under the laws of the United States and were lawfully removed from the country," the filing claimed, calling for a stay if not a reconsideration of the order.


"These criminal aliens needed only state that they had a fear of removal to South Sudan to receive the other procedures required by the Court’s April 18, 2025 injunction. The aliens did not do so. Therefore, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) attempted to remove these aliens, who have committed the most reprehensible violations of our nation’s laws, to a place where they no longer pose a threat to the United States."

The flight left from Texas earlier this week with eight migrants from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico and South Sudan.

District judge Murphy issued the ruling on Tuesday after lawyers for the immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam accused the Trump administration of illegally deporting their clients to third-party countries. They argue there is a court order blocking such removals.

Murphy asked the federal government to "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."

The US has third-party deportation agreements with a handful of countries, the most prominent being El Salvador, which has accepted hundreds of Venezuelan deportees from the Trump administration.