‘Rewarding lawlessness’: Migrants face ‘torture and death’ as Supreme Court greenlights Trump’s deportation plan

The Supreme Court has handed the Trump administration a major win by allowing the immediate restart of deporting migrants to countries other than their home nations, including unstable regions, often with very little advance warning. The court’s decision, which came without explanation, has drawn strong criticism. Some justices warned that this move seriously weakens legal protections and could lead to migrants being subjected to torture or even death.

As reported by NY Times, The Supreme Court’s order temporarily stopped a ruling by US District Judge Brian Murphy, who had found that the government’s plan to deport migrants to third countries without proper procedures clearly violated constitutional rights. According to CNN, Judge Murphy had ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give migrants written notice of where they would be sent and a chance to argue against deportation if they feared torture.

In a sharp dissent, three liberal justices (Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson) were very concerned. Justice Sotomayor called the majority’s decision “rewarding lawlessness,” saying the Trump administration has repeatedly ignored court orders. She argued that lower courts should be allowed to handle such important cases carefully, but the Supreme Court stepped in to help an administration that has consistently broken legal rules.

Trump is able to send immigrants anywhere again

Legal experts say the Supreme Court’s decision is “horrifying.” A lawyer for some of the migrants involved in the case said the ruling removes key protections that have kept people from being sent to places where they could face torture or death. While this ruling is not the final say on the legal issues its immediate effects are severe, especially as Trump continues his immigration rampage.

The Trump administration quickly celebrated the ruling. A DHS spokeswoman said they were ready to “fire up the deportation planes,” while the DHS Secretary shared a picture of the court’s decision alongside a celebratory image of the President. This reaction shows the administration plans to use the ruling to drastically change deportation policies, allowing officials to send migrants to countries where they have no ties. This new approach could solve a major problem past administrations faced: being unable to deport people because their home countries refused to take them back, often due to poor relations with the United States.

This comes after reports from immigrant rights groups about migrants, originally set to be sent to South Sudan, who were held at a military base in Djibouti. These migrants, including people from Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos, were kept in converted shipping containers and cut off from their lawyers. After the Supreme Court’s decision, lawyers for these migrants rushed to Judge Murphy’s court, arguing that the ruling did not apply to their clients because the judge had issued a separate order protecting them, one the government had not challenged.

Judge Murphy later confirmed that his May 21 order, requiring the government to give these migrants a fair chance to argue against deportation with their lawyers present, was still in effect. Humanitarian groups describe conditions in South Sudan as extremely dangerous, pointing to United Nations warnings about food shortages, political chaos, and rising violence. The National Immigration Litigation Alliance and other organizations told the court that these migrants are stuck in Djibouti, a country they do not know and are being sent to South Sudan, a place none of them have ever been.