Trump administration must maintain custody of migrants deported to South Sudan

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must maintain custody of illegal immigrants deported to South Sudan in case he rules the removals unlawful and they must be transferred back to the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling Tuesday night after lawyers for illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam accused the Trump administration of illegally deporting their clients to third-party countries. They argue there is currently a court order blocking such removals.

Murphy’s ruling said the government must “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.”

Attorneys for the immigrants argue that the deportations violated a court order mandating that migrants be granted “meaningful opportunity” to establish that sending them to a third country would make them unsafe.

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The attorneys asked Murphy for an emergency court order to prevent the deportations. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would “clearly” violate his ruling, which also applies to people who have otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.

Murphy said in his Tuesday order that U.S. officials must appear in court on Wednesday to identify the immigrants impacted, address when and how they learned they would be removed to a third country and what opportunity they were given to raise a fear-based claim. He also ruled that the government must provide information about the whereabouts of the migrants apparently already removed.

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The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in April that the U.S. would revoke visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and no others would be issued, effective immediately. Rubio attributed the change to “the failure of South Sudan’s transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner,” according to a statement posted on X.

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The U.S. has third-party deportation agreements with only a handful of countries, the most prominent of which is El Salvador, which has accepted hundreds of Venezuelan illegal immigrants from the Trump administration.

The East African country, founded in 2011, is on the verge of civil war, with escalating armed conflict, mass displacement and severe food insecurity.

Previously, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, suspended its operations to include visa, passport and other routine consular services on April 22, 2023.

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch and The Associated Press contributed to this report