The Supreme Court has given the Trump administration the go-ahead to send a group of immigrants who are being held at a U.S. military base in Djibouti back to South Sudan.
In a brief opinion, the justices affirmed that their prior order, which stayed a federal judge’s ruling in Massachusetts that had restricted the government’s ability to deport immigrants to countries not explicitly named in their removal orders, applies in full to the eight immigrants currently in U.S. custody in Djibouti.
The order came after the high court put a hold on a ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy. His order said that the federal government could not deport immigrants to “third countries” (those not named in their removal orders) without first making sure, through a series of safeguards, that the people would not be tortured when they were sent back.