An Air Force Boeing C-17 used for expulsion flights is represented at Biggs Army Airfield in Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas on February 13, 2025.
Justin Hamel / AFP via Getty Images
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Justin Hamel / AFP via Getty Images
Immigration lawyers have asked a Federal Massachusetts judge to block an alleged Trump administration decision to expel migrants in a third country, in this case South Sudan.
They also urged the federal judge Brian Murphy to immediately order the return of any migrant who would have already been expelled to these “third countries” or places of which they are not originally, according to a judicial file on Tuesday.
Migrants from Myanmar, Vietnam and other countries that have no legal status to stay in the United States have received opinions on Monday that they would be expelled, their lawyers said.
When lawyers representing detainees sought to contact them on Tuesday, officials from the Port Isabel detention center in Texas said that at least one person, from Myanmar, had already been returned to South Sudan, according to a statement by their lawyer.
“The applicants ask this Court an immediate order to order the immediate return of any member of the course returned to South Sudan,” according to documents filed before the US District Court of Massachusetts. Lawyers have also asked the government not to expel migrants to a country that is not their country of origin unless they get written notice and enough time to challenge their expulsion.
They argued that the actions of the Trump administration to expel their customers also violate the legal order prohibiting deportations to these third countries without adequate regular procedures.
The Ministry of Internal Security did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The Trump administration has negotiated with other countries arranged to take people expelled from the United States
The Ministry of Internal Security has already expelled more than 200 Venezuelan migrants in Salvador. He argued that some of the men were members of the Gang Tren of Aragua and could be expelled using the law on extraterrestrial enemies, an obscure law in wartime which allows rapid moves. The Trump administration also paid $ 6 million to El Salvador to house them.
Earlier in May, the administration had sought to send migrants to Libya, despite the concerns of human rights groups on violence there and the famous human rights file in the country.
South Sudan endured a long civil war which killed more than 50,000 people until a fragile peace interrupts the fighting in 2018. Even thus, political instability persists and faces between the rebels and the government continues. Many, including the United Nations, are concerned about the prospect that the country again has the inclination of the civil war.
