The US government on Wednesday justified its decision to deport a group of migrants, several of them Asian, to impoverished South Sudan — now in the throes of internal conflict — but suggested it was not their last stop.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin slammed a federal judge in Boston for suspending the expulsion, accusing him of “trying to force the United States to bring back these uniquely barbaric monsters.”
The judge on Tuesday ordered the government to “maintain custody… of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the court finds that such removals were unlawful.”
Donald Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants, and he has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House in January.
Trump claims that the United States is facing an “invasion” from foreign criminals. But his mass deportation efforts have been thwarted or stalled by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court, over concerns that migrant rights are being ignored.
At a new hearing on Wednesday, District Judge Brian Murphy said the government had violated one of his previous orders, calling the timeframe given for the migrants to contest their expulsions “plainly insufficient.”
The White House identified the eight men as two citizens of Myanmar, two Cubans, a Vietnamese man, a Laotian, a Mexican and a South Sudanese citizen. The statement listed the crimes they allegedly committed.
“These are the only eight on the flight,” McLaughlin told reporters.
“Because of safety and operational security, we cannot tell you what the final destination for these individuals will be,” she said.
When pressed on the question, she said: “We’re confirming the fact that that’s not their final destination,” though she never named South Sudan as the stopover country.
“They’re still in DHS custody,” McLaughlin told the press conference, when asked if the administration was respecting the judge’s decision. “We are following due process under the US Constitution.”
While the government said those scheduled for expulsion had ample warning, lawyers for the Vietnamese national and one citizen of Myanmar said in court filings that their clients only learned the night before or on Tuesday, when the flight left.
The attorneys argue that the government violated an earlier order by not allowing their clients time to file for protection under the UN Convention against Torture.
When Murphy temporarily blocked the government from expelling Asian migrants to Libya earlier this month, he said migrants being sent to a third country had to be afforded the time to request such protection.
