Supreme Court temporarily allows deportations to unrelated third countries to resume

The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a temporary victory on Tuesday, allowing it to resume deportations of undocumented immigrants to third countries to which they have no connection.

The court will hear arguments on the matter in December, including whether the policy violates federal law or due process.

Tuesday's 6-3 ruling overturned a lower court decision that required giving immigrants the chance to plead their case before being sent to third countries.

The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals had put a stay on the administration's policy, ruling that it denied immigrants sufficient opportunity to object to removal in cases where, for example, they may face torture.

"An individual's right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination," Judge Seth Aframe wrote in the lower court decision striking down the policy.

The UN Convention Against Torture, which was ratified by the US Senate, generally bars deportation or extradition to countries where there is a possibility the returnee might be tortured, though it is vague as to how that determination should be made. The Department of Homeland Security said that assurances from the home country that no one would be tortured is enough.

Attorney Trina Realmuto, who had sued the Trump administration over the deportations, said the Supreme Court decision "is a devastating result for people who may be put on a plane before they ever have notice or an opportunity to raise a fear claim".

"But today's order does not decide whether the administration's third-country removal policy is lawful," Realmuto was quoted by ABC News as saying. "The Court has agreed to hear that question, including whether the policy violates the statute, due process, and the protections against torture."

The three liberal judges on the Supreme Court — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented.

About 25,000 immigrants have already been deported under the policy to more than two dozen countries, mostly Mexico, but also countries like Panama, Guyana and Liberia, which had agreed to accept deportees that are citizens of other countries.

"For the third time in 18 months, the Supreme Court has been called upon to stay the same local district judge's campaign to halt the Trump Administration from removing illegal aliens including many of the worst-of-the-worst criminals to countries willing to receive them," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement. "Today's ruling from the Supreme Court yet again affirms the lawfulness of the President's homeland security agenda."

The administration had faced problems at times deporting undocumented immigrants to their home countries if those countries refused to accept them.

shiguang@chinadailyusa.com