A US federal appeals court has ruled that immigration authorities must give detainees a meaningful chance to challenge deportation to countries where they have no established ties.
The decision by the Boston-based US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit represents a setback for the Trump administration’s controversial third-country deportation policy, which has seen migrants removed to countries far from their places of origin.
The court largely upheld an earlier ruling by US District Court Judge Brian Murphy, who had found aspects of the policy unlawful and repeatedly criticised the administration’s handling of third-country deportations over concerns about due process.
At the centre of the case is a Department of Homeland Security policy introduced last year that allows immigration officials to deport migrants to third countries. Where a country has given the US State Department broad assurances that deportees will not face persecution or torture, officials can remove migrants without providing prior notice under the policy.
Where such assurances have not been provided, immigration authorities are required to give detainees some notice before sending them to the third country.
However, the appeals court said detainees must have a genuine opportunity to challenge their removal destination, particularly where they fear persecution or other serious harm.
“An individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination,” the appeals court panel wrote.
The National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which was among the organisations that challenged the policy in court, welcomed the ruling, saying the government could not avoid legal protections against persecution and torture by changing the country to which a migrant is deported.
“For over a year, many class members [have] been deported to countries they had never been told they could be removed to, with little or no notice and without a meaningful opportunity to explain the dangers awaiting them there,” said Trina Realmuto, the organisation’s executive director.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, maintained that the policy remains in place.
DHS General Counsel James Percival said on X late Friday: “The third country deportation policy continues, as the First Circuit’s ruling is not currently in effect. If you claim fear in your home country, DHS has the right to send you elsewhere.”
The case is expected to reach the US Supreme Court, with the administration likely to challenge the appeals court’s decision.
The ruling comes as third-country deportations have become an increasingly prominent part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement programme. The administration has reached deportation arrangements with more than 30 countries, including Liberia in West Africa.
In some cases, migrants are sent to countries other than their own because court orders prevent the US government from returning them to their countries of origin but do not prohibit their removal to another country.
An advocacy organisation cited in the report estimates that more than 25,000 migrants have been deported to third countries under the Trump administration, with about 80 per cent sent to Mexico.
The policy has also affected migrants from Latin America who have been transported to countries in Africa and other regions.
CBS News recently reported on a group of migrants sent to Liberia, including nationals of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela, as well as people from other African countries.
The deportees were reportedly being housed in a hotel in Liberia and said they had not been informed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they would be sent to the West African country.
They also said they were not given an opportunity to challenge their removal to Liberia before being deported.
One of the deportees, Honduran national Elvis Rodriguez Venturas, described the experience as unsettling.
“I’m concerned,” Rodriguez Venturas told CBS News. “I feel far away, on the other side of the world.”
