US judge clears the way for imminent deportation of 8 migrants to South Sudan
(Reuters) -Eight migrants lost their last-ditch effort to halt their deportation to South Sudan by the Trump administration on Friday, clearing the way for their imminent transfer after a judge in Massachusetts denied their request.
Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department said the men were scheduled to be flown to South Sudan on Friday at 7:00 pm Eastern Time after two courts considered the request on an emergency basis on July 4, when courts are otherwise closed for the Independence Day holiday.
Lawyers for the migrants had filed new claims in Washington late Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court clarified that a judge in Massachusetts could no longer require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to hold them. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington paused the deportation briefly on Friday afternoon, but sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston.
Murphy said the Supreme Court order required him to deny their bid, saying their claims that deportation was being used as a form of punishment were "substantially similar" to the ones he had ruled on previously.
The order was the latest round in the fight over the legality of the Trump administration's campaign to deter immigration through high-profile deportations to countries where migrants say they face safety concerns, and which has already gone from lower courts to the Supreme Court twice.
Jennie Pasquarella, a lawyer with the Seattle Clemency Project who represents the migrants, called the ruling disappointing. No court will hear their claim that the Trump administration is unconstitutionally using deportation to dangerous countries as a form of punishment, on top of criminal sentences the men have already served, she said.
"Both courts' decisions today have denied them their opportunity to have these claims heard and to protect their own lives. That is what is so tragic about where we came out," she said.
Pasquarella said the men do not plan to file an appeal.
A spokesperson for Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Department of Justice attorney Hashim Mooppan told Moss during Friday's hearing that court orders halting agreed-upon deportations pose a serious problem for U.S. diplomatic relations and would make foreign countries less likely to accept transfers of migrants in the future. The men have been convicted of various crimes, with four of them convicted of murder, the Department of Homeland Security has said.
South Sudan has long been dangerous even for locals. The U.S. State Department advises citizens not to travel there due to violent crime and armed conflict. The United Nations has said the African country's political crisis could reignite a brutal civil war that ended in 2018.
The eight men, who their lawyers said are from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Burma, Sudan and Vietnam, argue their deportations to South Sudan would violate the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
"It seems to me almost self-evident that the United States government cannot take human beings and send them to circumstances in which their physical well-being is at risk simply either to punish them or send a signal to others," Moss said during the hearing. But he ultimately found their new claims should be heard by the court in Massachusetts.
The Friday effort to prevent the deportations came after months of back and forth between Murphy, the Supreme Court, and the Trump administration.
Murphy ruled in May to block the U.S. from immediately moving the men to South Sudan after he found that officials had violated his earlier ruling in a class action lawsuit concerning the due process rights of migrants. That ruling, in April, had blocked the administration from sending migrants to countries where they have no ties without giving them the chance to raise safety concerns. The Supreme Court on June 23 put Murphy's April injunction on hold. But Murphy that same day said the high court ruling did not apply to his May order. Calling Murphy's decision a "lawless act of defiance," the Justice Department the next day urged the Supreme Court to clarify its decision. The nine-member Supreme Court on Thursday, over the dissent of two of its liberal justices, sided with the Trump administration and said its decision serves to reverse Murphy's May order blocking the deportations to South Sudan.
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