Migrants deported from US to South Sudan held in Djibouti
A group of migrants deported from the United States towards conflict-torn South Sudan will be held for now in Djibouti after a court ruling, the Trump administration lamented.
The US government claims it expelled the eight migrants from a range of nations due to their past convictions for violent crimes.
The migrants left the United States on a flight Tuesday bound for South Sudan instead of their nations of origin, after the US failed to obtain approval from their respective governments to take them back.
They are currently detained by the Department of Homeland Security in Djibouti, where there is a major US military base.
US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston ruled Wednesday evening that the Trump administration had violated one of his previous orders, calling the timeframe given for the migrants to contest their expulsions to South Sudan "plainly insufficient."
South Sudan, an impoverished nation which has long grappled with insecurity and political instability, has an advisory against travel from the US State Department.
In his ruling, Judge Murphy said that migrants had to receive greater notice and at least ten days to appeal the decision, as required by the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
He also ruled that six of the migrants were entitled to invoke, with the aid of a lawyer, their "fear" of torture or ill-treatment in the third country.
Additionally, if the Department of Homeland Security deemed the fear unfounded, it still needed to grant at least 15 days to appeal the expulsion procedure.
Mr Trump took to his Truth Social platform to decry Judge Murphy's order, saying he "has ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan, and instead remain in Djibouti."
"He would not allow these monsters to proceed to their final destination," he continued, claiming that the courts are "absolutely out of control."
While the government said those scheduled for expulsion had ample warning, lawyers for two of the deportees said in court filings that their clients only learned the night before or on Tuesday, when the flight left.
For their part, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that South Sudan was not the "final destination" for the migrants.
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