US completes deportation of eight men to South Sudan after legal disputes

US completes deportation of eight men to South Sudan after legal wrangling

Eight were held for weeks at a US military base in Djibouti while their legal challenge played out in court

Eight men deported from the US in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have reached the Trump administration’s intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the state department advises against travel to due to “crime, kidnapping and armed conflict”.

The men, from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam, and South Sudan, arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a federal judge authorized the Trump administration's relocation of the men in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, which authorized their deportation from the United States. Administration officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the United States. "This was a victory for the rule of law and the safety of the American people," Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Saturday announcing the men's arrival in South Sudan. The Supreme Court authorized the men's transfer last Thursday.

The men had been put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan, but the flight was diverted to a base in Djibouti, where they were held in a converted cargo container. The flight was diverted after a federal judge determined that the administration had violated his order by not giving them a chance to challenge the deportation. The Supreme Court's conservative majority had ruled in June that immigration officials could quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that allowed immigrants to challenge any removal to countries outside their home country where they might be in danger. A series of court hearings on July 4 resulted in a temporary halt to deportations while a judge considered a last-minute appeal, before the judge decided he had no power to halt the deportations and that the person best positioned to decide the request was a Boston judge, whose rulings had prompted the initial suspension of the administration's efforts to initiate deportations to South Sudan.

On Friday night, that judge issued a brief ruling concluding that the Supreme Court had tied his hands. U.S. authorities have reached agreements with other countries to house immigrants who cannot be quickly returned to their countries of origin.