Appeals Court Restricts Trump Administration Deportation Effort
The ruling allows migrants to contest deportations to countries other than their place of origin. The case could head to the Supreme Court.
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The ruling allows migrants to contest deportations to countries other than their place of origin. The case could head to the Supreme Court.
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· 4:01 min
Sept. 18, 2026
The Trump administration will face new requirements before it is allowed to deport people to countries other than their nation of origin, an appeals court ruled on Friday.
The ruling, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, requires that immigrants facing deportation to so-called third countries be given more due process beforehand — “a meaningful opportunity” to raise fears of persecution or torture. In a 55-page opinion with no dissent, a three-judge panel from the court rejected arguments from the Trump administration that it receives “assurances” from foreign governments that deportees will not be persecuted or tortured and that such communications should be sufficient.
The administration’s current policy “conflicts” with laws and regulations that protect detainees from torture, the judges ruled, and added that they were rejecting an attempt by the Homeland Security Department to carve out an exception to those rules “from whole cloth.”
If the ruling remains in place, it will impose a substantial and time-consuming hurdle on Mr. Trump’s third-country deportation program. The practice of sending deportees to faraway and sometimes dangerous countries, often with just a few hours’ notice, has been one of the administration’s highest-profile attempts to create uncertainty for immigrants already in the United States.
The administration has sent migrants to nations including South Sudan, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea as part of the program. In interviews with The New York Times, some migrants deported to third countries have made harrowing allegations that they were abused by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The Homeland Security Department has said detainees receive “comprehensive medical care” while in ICE custody, and denied that anyone has been beaten or tortured.
In March, the appeals panel temporarily blocked a ruling by Judge Brian E. Murphy of Massachusetts imposing the new requirements. Friday’s order lifts that block, putting most of the new legal hurdles to third-country deportations into place.
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Originally published by nytimes.com. Syndicated material does not necessarily reflect the views of Glamour Canada.
