U.S. Supreme Court backs Trump plan to deport migrants to Libya and Sudan

The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a Trump administration policy that allows migrants to be deported to so-called “third countries”—nations they are not originally from—without due process. The decision clears the way for migrants to be sent from the U.S. to countries such as Libya and Sudan.

The ruling did not include a detailed legal explanation and was not unanimous. Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, issuing a 19-page opinion.

“Apparently, the Court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its powers,” Sotomayor wrote.

In May, eight migrants convicted of crimes in the U.S. were flown to Africa. The government intended to send them to Sudan, but a federal judge in Massachusetts halted the transfer. The migrants have since reportedly been held in a shipping container on a U.S. military base in Djibouti. With the Supreme Court's new ruling, their deportation to Sudan can now proceed.

The Trump administration has been in discussions with Libya and Sudan to accept migrants in exchange for financial and other incentives. However, both countries—known for their poor human rights records—have denied agreeing to accept the deportees.