A US judge has blocked the Trump administration from quickly deporting thousands of migrants to countries other than their own without first providing them the opportunity to demonstrate that they fear being persecuted, tortured, or killed there.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued a preliminary injunction, the latest setback to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown that began on January 20.
The Boston-based judge last month temporarily banned the administration from fast-tracking deportations, hampering its ability to remove migrants who in certain circumstances have legal protections barring them from being deported back to their countries of origin.
The provisional injunction ordered on Friday will remain in force until the dispute is completed.
In court files, the administration has already stated that it will appeal Murphy’s judgement.
When deciding on challenges to government policies, federal judges frequently issue orders that apply nationally.
Stymied by such results, the Trump administration has already petitioned the United States Supreme Court to limit nationwide injunctions to merely those filing the case.
The ruling mandates the US Department of Homeland Security to provide individuals with a “meaningful opportunity” to seek legal relief from deportation before sending them to other nations.
“The Court has found it likely that these deportations have or will be wrongfully executed and that there has at least been no opportunity for Plaintiffs to demonstrate the substantial harms they might face,” wrote Murphy, an appointee of the former US president Joe Biden.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to calls for comment.
According to Anwen Hughes of Human Rights First, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, many of those deported to third countries are refugees who have been granted protection from persecution or torture if they return to their home countries.
“The protections the court has ordered here are critical to make sure DHS does not turn around and ship them to a third country where they would face the same harms,” Hughes said.
In the fiscal year 2023, 1,769 people subject to final orders of removal were granted limited kinds of protection against return to countries where their lives or freedom would be jeopardised or where they faced the risk of torture.
In February, the US Department of Homeland Security directed immigration agents to evaluate cases of those granted such safeguards from deportation to their home countries to determine whether they may be re-detained and transported to a third country.
Immigrant rights organisations sued on behalf of a number of migrants trying to avoid deportation to newly specified locations.
Judge Murphy expressed worry that without a court order, the government may conduct deportations in violation of the Convention Against Torture.
“Even if such blanket assurances might, in some individual cases, satisfy due process, the March Guidance precludes any further review prior to removal,” he wrote. “Without meaningful review, the rights Congress has provided are little more than dead letters.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
