How the Trump Administration Banished Eight Men to Legal Limbo in Africa
Somewhere inside Camp Lemonnier, an American military base in the East African nation of Djibouti, eight men, all convicted of serious crimes in the United States, are under the guard of officers from the Homeland Security Department.
The Trump administration had planned to send the men, who had come to the United States years ago as immigrants from across the world, on to the war-torn country of South Sudan, an extraordinary gambit and part of President Trump's broader plan for mass deportations. Then an order from a federal judge, on the other side of the planet in Boston, put a halt to the plan, at least for now.
And so for the past 16 days, the men have been in limbo, living and sleeping inside a modular, air-conditioned container that the military usually uses as a conference room. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have the detainees under 'constant surveillance,' accompanying them on their trips to the bathroom and then searching them for contraband when they return, a D.H.S. spokeswoman said.
The detainees' fate has emerged as a key test in the constitutional battle over the scope of due process. The White House is making a bold claim, arguing that handing immigrants a one-page document is sufficient to deport them to a dangerous country to which they have no previous connection.
A reconstruction of the men's surreal journey from South Texas to Camp Lemonnier reveals a chaotic effort by the Trump administration to make an example of a group of immigrants the administration has termed 'the worst of the worst.' At first, the detainees were told that they were going to be sent to South Africa, but hours later were told it would be South Sudan instead. What was to happen to them next — whether they were to have been imprisoned or set free — is unclear.
Path of the Plane
It landed in Shannon, Ireland, around 9:39 p.m. on Tuesday and departed about 11:47 p.m.
2
1
The plane took off from Harlingen, Texas, around 12:57 p.m. on Tuesday.
3
It landed in Djibouti around 9:52 a.m. on Wednesday.
South
Sudan
It landed in Shannon, Ireland, around 9:39 p.m. on Tuesday and departed about 11:47 p.m.
2
1
The plane took off from Harlingen, Texas, around 12:57 p.m. on Tuesday.
3
South
Sudan
It landed in Djibouti around 9:52 a.m. on Wednesday.
Note: All times are Eastern.
Source: Flightradar24
By Zach Levitt
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