Justice Department Seeks Supreme Court Stay of 1st Circuit Ruling on Third-Country Deportations

The Justice Department filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, asking the justices to block a recent 1st Circuit decision that limited the Trump administration’s practice of deporting undocumented immigrants to “third countries” that have not accepted them as nationals. The filing, submitted on Thursday, urges the Court to either grant an immediate stay or refer the matter to the full bench for action. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was assigned to the appeal and ordered the deportees’ lawyers to respond by the following Monday.

Politico

As part of President Donald Trump’s broader mass-deportation initiative, the administration has increasingly identified foreign states willing to receive U.S. deportees when the individuals’ home countries refuse repatriation or have granted protection from torture or persecution. The policy relies on categorical assurances from these “third countries” that they will not subject the arrivals to mistreatment. Earlier Supreme Court rulings on emergency-docket appeals had upheld the administration’s approach, but the 1st Circuit’s recent opinion required additional procedural safeguards for detainees.

Politico

According to the filing, almost 220 deportations to various third countries have already been cancelled, with dozens more in jeopardy. The administration has nevertheless sent “tens of thousands” of people to third countries in recent months, often in exchange for financial compensation or other concessions from the receiving states.

Politico

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower-court orders “disrupt” diplomatic arrangements and impose “massive costs on the government,” contending that the stay is necessary to avoid further foreign-relations harms. The Department of Homeland Security’s top lawyer announced on X that officials did not believe the appeals-court ruling had taken effect, prompting immigrant-rights groups to secure a clarifying order from the 1st Circuit that the ruling is now in force. Justice Jackson’s directive for a response by Monday signals the Court’s willingness to consider the administration’s urgency claim.

Politico

• “Disruption of those plans … imposes massive costs on the government and invariably requires new rounds of diplomatic engagement with countries who may be all the more skeptical of our removal efforts given the disruption,” — D. John Sauer, Solicitor General.

Politico