The Trump administration is appealing to the Supreme Court to resume the deportation of immigrants to third countries

The Department of Justice filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court to restore the policy allowing for the deportation of certain undocumented immigrants to third countries other than their country of origin, after a lower court paused the measure on the grounds that it violates due process.

The government's petition seeks to suspend a ruling issued in February 2026 by a federal district judge in Boston and upheld by an appeals court, which requires immigration authorities to give undocumented immigrants advance notice and grant them the opportunity to legally challenge their transfer before sending them to a third country.

Impact on security and diplomatic agreements

Attorney General D. John Sauer emphasized in the appeal that this policy has allowed for the removal of thousands of people over the past 15 months, including foreign nationals with criminal records whose countries of origin refuse to accept them.

As a direct result of recent court rulings, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was forced to cancel a flight scheduled to transfer 70 individuals with criminal records to three partner nations.

Sauer further argued that the judicial intervention harms the United States' international relations by interfering with delicate diplomatic agreements established with dozens of countries, primarily in Africa and Latin America, that have agreed to accept deportees by providing assurances that they will not be persecuted or subjected to cruel treatment.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency appeals in that jurisdiction, set a deadline for the immigrants' legal representatives to file their response brief, expiring this Monday afternoon.

The administration is awaiting a preliminary injunction that would allow it to resume the deportation program while the court resolves the merits of the case.