A federal appeals court handed Donald Trump a significant procedural win, pausing a lower court order that would have blocked his administration from deporting illegal immigrants to so-called “third countries.”
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit grants the administration a temporary reprieve just hours before U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s order was set to take effect.
Murphy, a Biden appointee, issued an 81-page opinion last month concluding that the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal process violates constitutional due process protections. His ruling would have required the government to first attempt deportation to a migrant’s country of origin — or to a country previously designated by an immigration judge — before pursuing removal to a third nation.
He further required that migrants be given “meaningful notice” and an opportunity to raise fears of persecution through a “reasonable fear” interview before being sent elsewhere.
“The third-country removal policy fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,’” Murphy wrote. He stayed his ruling for 15 days to allow time for appeal.
The Trump administration quickly appealed, arguing the district court created an “unworkable scheme” that threatened sensitive diplomatic negotiations and could derail deportations involving thousands of individuals.
Administration lawyers also contended that Murphy’s ruling conflicts with prior emergency interventions by the Supreme Court of the United States, which last year allowed the policy to continue temporarily while litigation proceeds.
Senior administration officials have acknowledged the case is almost certain to return to the Supreme Court for full review.
The dispute centers on whether DHS can deport migrants—particularly those with serious criminal convictions—to countries other than their home nations when those nations refuse to accept them.
DHS has argued it has “undisputed authority” to remove individuals to third countries that agree to receive them. Officials have pointed to cases involving convicted murderers, child sex offenders, and major drug traffickers whose countries of origin declined repatriation.
Murphy has presided over a class-action lawsuit challenging deportations to countries including South Sudan, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. In May, he accused the administration of failing to comply with a prior court order involving six migrants deported to South Sudan without what he deemed adequate due process protections.
At one point, Murphy ordered that certain migrants remain in U.S. custody at a military facility in Djibouti until they received reasonable-fear interviews.
“The court recognizes that the class members at issue here have criminal histories,” Murphy wrote in an earlier order. “But that does not change due process.”
The First Circuit’s stay does not resolve the merits of the case. It simply freezes Murphy’s injunction while appellate review continues, allowing deportations to third countries to proceed in the interim.
If the case reaches the Supreme Court, it will present a high-stakes constitutional question: how far executive branch authority extends in enforcing immigration law when removal to a migrant’s home country is not feasible—and what procedural safeguards are required before deportation to a third nation.
With the administration pressing forward on mass removals and lower courts continuing to scrutinize those efforts, the coming Supreme Court battle could define the limits of presidential power over deportation policy heading into the next election cycle.
The legal fight over third-country deportations has been escalating for months and has already drawn the attention of the Supreme Court twice.
The dispute began after several migrants with final removal orders sued in Massachusetts, arguing that the Department of Homeland Security failed to give them sufficient notice to raise fears of torture or persecution before being deported to countries other than their homelands.