A group of eight migrants deported from the U.S. to conflict-ridden South Sudan will be held temporarily in Djibouti following a court ruling, the Trump administration said Thursday, expressing frustration over the setback.
U.S. officials said the migrants – who hail from various countries – were deported due to past convictions for violent crimes.
Unable to secure permission from their home countries to repatriate them, U.S. authorities instead routed the group to South Sudan on a Tuesday flight.
The migrants are now being held by the Department of Homeland Security in Djibouti, home to a major U.S. military base.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston ruled Wednesday evening that the Trump administration had violated one of his previous orders, calling the timeframe given for the migrants to contest their expulsions to South Sudan “plainly insufficient.”
South Sudan, an impoverished nation that has long grappled with insecurity and political instability, is under a travel advisory from the U.S. State Department.
In his ruling, Murphy said migrants must receive greater notice and at least 10 days to appeal the decision, as required by the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
He also ruled that six of the migrants were entitled to invoke, with the aid of a lawyer, their “fear” of torture or ill-treatment in the third country.
If the Department of Homeland Security deemed the fear unfounded, it would still be required to grant at least 15 days to appeal the expulsion procedure.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform Thursday to decry Murphy’s order, saying the judge “has ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan, and instead remain in Djibouti.”
“He would not allow these monsters to proceed to their final destination,” he continued, claiming that the courts are “absolutely out of control.”
The White House identified the eight men as two citizens of Myanmar, two Cubans, a Vietnamese man, a Laotian, a Mexican and a South Sudanese citizen.
While the government said those scheduled for expulsion had ample warning, lawyers for the Vietnamese national and one citizen of Myanmar said in court filings that their clients only learned the night before – or on Tuesday, when the flight departed.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that South Sudan was not the “final destination” for the migrants.
