Deportees Went Where?

The Trump administration keeps sending migrants to countries they are not from. Yesterday, a federal judge held a contentious hearing about migrants reportedly heading to South Sudan and declared that the administration had violated a previous order. The administration has sent people who weren’t natives to El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica. It is also asking other countries, such as Libya and Rwanda, to accept deportees.

Today’s newsletter explains how and why the Trump administration is doing this.

Is it legal?

Yes, with some safeguards.

Federal law allows deportations to third countries. Presidents of both parties have used this power when an immigrant’s nation of origin is “recalcitrant,” meaning officials there won’t take him or her back. Venezuela, for instance, accepts deportees only sporadically. So if an administration wants to deport Venezuelans, it often needs to send them somewhere else.

The policy comes with two protections: First, migrants can challenge their deportation in court. And second, the destination must not be dangerous for them. Yesterday’s hearing touched on both issues. The judge, Brian Murphy, had ordered the administration not to deport migrants to third countries without giving them at least 15 days’ notice to raise concerns about potential dangers. Murphy said he might hold officials in criminal contempt for violating that order.

The Trump administration has used creative legal arguments to carry out third-country deportations, such as invoking the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador. That’s not always necessary. The plaintiffs in Murphy’s court already had a “final order of removal,” so they had gone through the typical immigration court process.

Why South Sudan?

We don’t yet know if South Sudan is where the migrants are headed. The administration said it had sent eight migrants to a third country, but it hasn’t confirmed which. Their plane last stopped in the east African nation of Djibouti, my colleagues reported.