6 hours ago
7
Migrants destined for South Sudan
The Trump medication said it deported a radical of 8 men convicted of superior crimes successful the United States to the conflict-ridden African state of South Sudan, pursuing a weeks-long ineligible saga that had kept the deportees successful a military basal successful Djibouti for weeks.
Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the deportation formation carrying the deportees landed successful South Sudan conscionable earlier midnight EST connected Friday. A photograph provided by the section showed the deportees, with their hands and feet shackled, sitting wrong an aircraft, guarded by U.S. work members.
Eight men from Asia and Latin America were deported from the United States to South Sudan aft a weeks-long ineligible fight.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
The deportations to South Sudan — a state plagued by equipped struggle and governmental instability that the U.S. authorities warns Americans not to sojourn — people an unprecedented caller frontier successful President Trump's government-wide crackdown connected amerciable immigration.
None of the deportees is from South Sudan. They hail from Cuba, Mexico, Laos, Myanmar, Sudan and Vietnam, and were ordered deported from the U.S. aft being convicted of crimes, including murder, homicide, intersexual assault, lascivious acts with a kid and robbery.
The high-profile ineligible conflict implicit the destiny of the men culminated erstwhile 2 national judges connected Friday denied a last-ditch effort by migration rights advocates to halt the deportations, saying their hands were tied by caller orders from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The deportations signify a large governmental triumph for the Trump administration, which has sought to person countries astir the satellite — irrespective of their quality rights grounds — to judge deportees who are not their citizens, including those convicted of superior crimes.
"A territory justice cannot dictate the nationalist information and overseas argumentation of the United States of America," said McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman. "This Independence Day marks different triumph for the information and information of the American people."
The deportations person besides alarmed quality rights advocates, who fearfulness the men could look jailhouse time, torture oregon different harms successful South Sudan. They've argued the deportations to South Sudan are designed to punish the men for their crimes, adjacent though they person already served transgression sentences successful the U.S.
"The U.S. State Department warns Americans against each question to South Sudan, yet deported these men determination without immoderate owed process," said Trina Realmuto, an lawyer for the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which tried to halt the deportations. "Make nary mistake astir it, these deportations were punitive and unconstitutional."
It's unclear precisely however the deportees volition beryllium treated successful South Sudan. A Justice Department lawyer told a national justice Friday that South Sudan informed the U.S. it would connection the men a impermanent migration status, but the lawyer could not corroborate whether they would beryllium detained. The Trump medication has said successful tribunal filings that South Sudanese officials person made assurances that the deportees volition not look torture.
The men's deportation was made imaginable by a Supreme Court bid earlier this week. At the petition of the Trump administration, the Supreme Court connected Thursday clarified the scope of an earlier bid it had issued to intermission a little tribunal ruling barring deportations to third-party countries without a grade of owed process and notice.
That April little tribunal ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy successful Massachusetts had required the Trump medication to springiness detainees capable announcement and a accidental to beryllium interviewed by a U.S. asylum serviceman earlier immoderate deportation to a state wherever they did not hail from. That lawsuit thwarted respective deportation efforts, including a program to nonstop detainees to Libya.
When helium learned of the administration's program to deport the 8 men to South Sudan successful May, Murphy blocked that effort, mandating the U.S. to clasp custody of the detainees and to connection them a accidental to contention their deportation. The medication transferred the detainees to the Camp Lemonnier naval basal successful Djibouti, wherever U.S. officials described unsafe conditions, including concerns astir malaria, rocket attacks, inadequate information protocols and triple-digit outdoor temperatures.
But the Supreme Court past month suspended Murphy's ruling from April. And connected Thursday, it said Murphy could nary longer necessitate the authorities to let the detainees successful Djibouti to contention their deportation, since the bid underpinning that request had been paused.
Hours later, migrant rights advocates asked a antithetic national judge, Randolph Moss successful Washington, D.C., to halt the deportations to South Sudan. He did truthful connected Friday, but lone concisely earlier saying the petition should beryllium handled by Murphy.
Moss expressed interest astir risks to the men's "physical safety" and said the U.S. authorities should not beryllium successful the concern of inflicting "pain and suffering" connected radical who person already served their sentence, adjacent for "terrible crimes." But helium said his hands were tied, telling the advocates they needed to inquire Murphy for immoderate intervention.
Later connected Friday, Murphy denied the advocates' request, saying the Supreme Court orders were "binding."
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the migration newsman astatine CBS News. Based successful Washington, helium covers migration argumentation and politics.
English (US) ·