The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to continue deporting immigrants to third countries for the time being.
According to Reuters and other outlets on Sept. 29, the Supreme Court granted the Justice Department's emergency request to halt lower court rulings that had found the third-country deportation policy unlawful. The vote split 6-3, with the court's conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting.
The Trump administration has been sending immigrants to third countries when they cannot be returned to their home countries despite final removal orders, or when those countries refuse to accept them. In the year since the policy took effect, more than 25,000 immigrants have been deported to 29 countries, with most sent to Mexico. Some were sent to South Sudan, Uganda and Liberia.
A federal district court in Boston ruled in February that "failing to give immigrants a meaningful opportunity to contest the risk of persecution or torture in a third country violates immigration law and constitutional due process." An appeals court upheld much of that ruling on the 18th. The Supreme Court's decision, however, suspends the effect of the lower court rulings until a decision on the merits. The court plans to hear arguments in December on the policy's legality.
The U.S. government argues that third-country deportations are essential to quickly remove immigrants who cannot be repatriated. Since taking office last year, Trump has made immigration his top policy priority, pushing aggressive enforcement and mass deportations. Immigrant rights groups, by contrast, have pushed back strongly, warning that immigrants without criminal records are being sent to countries where they have no ties and could face persecution and torture.
