US Supreme Court allows Trump to resume third-country deportations

The US Supreme Court has allowed the Donald Trump administration to resume its program of emergency deportations of undocumented migrants to third countries, without giving them an opportunity to challenge their removal, Reuters reports.

The justices temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that had required the administration to provide migrants with advance notice and an opportunity to raise concerns that they could face threats to their lives in the countries to which they were being deported. The Trump administration had argued that the requirement prevented it from “effectively removing aliens” from the United States.

The Supreme Court’s decision will remain in effect while the justices consider the case on its merits. The court said it would hear oral arguments in December.

The ruling allows the administration to resume a policy under which more than 25,000 migrants have already been deported to countries other than their own, according to Reuters.

Those deportees have been sent to countries including South Sudan, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, the Central African Republic and others that have reached agreements with the United States to accept migrants. Mexico has been the most frequent destination for migrants deported by Washington.

White House lawyers argue that there is no need for migrants to make individual claims about the dangers they could face in the countries to which they are being sent. Administration officials have said that the countries agreeing to accept the migrants have already provided assurances that they will not subject deportees to persecution or torture.

The Supreme Court’s decision is temporary, with the justices expected to address the broader legality of the policy after hearing arguments in December.

By Tamilla Hasanova