Supreme Court lifts limits on Trump’s third-country deportations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration can resume its policy of deporting immigrants to countries where they have no ties, for now, as the justices take up whether the deportations are legal .

The justices announced they will take the bench in December to hear arguments before issuing a final decision.

In the meantime, the emergency ruling lifts limits imposed by a district court judge on the deportations. He had found people don’t have sufficient opportunity to raise claims that they’d face torture once deported to a third country.

The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — said they would’ve kept the limits in place as the court took up the case.

None of the justices explained their reasoning.

“In our second Supreme Court victory in less than a week, DHS’s third country removal policy is back in effect,” Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival said in a statement. “A bad day for criminal illegals and open borders activists alike. It’s not too late to get $3,000 and a flight home.”

President Trump has increasingly relied on third-country removals as part of his aggressive immigration crackdown, saying the program is focused on removing violent criminals. His administration has signed agreements to send the deportees to countries across the globe, many in Africa.

Tuesday marks the Supreme Court’s third emergency ruling in a challenge backed by immigration groups.

At an earlier stage, the justices lifted the judge’s temporary ruling placing limits on the flights. Days later, the court rebuked him again by rejecting his insistence that a deportation flight to South Sudan had defied his order.

At issue now is U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s final ruling siding against the president in the case. The appointee of former President Biden serves on the federal bench in Boston.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer warned the justices that the ruling was already halting deportations, including one flight planned to carry 70 people with criminal convictions to three countries.