Supreme Court Approves Deportation of Eight Criminal Migrants to South Sudan

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration is permitted to deport eight foreign nationals with violent criminal convictions to South Sudan, despite only one of them being from the country. The administration argued that these individuals committed particularly heinous crimes, making them unsuitable for resettlement in other nations.

The group includes a sex offender from Myanmar and a convicted murderer from Laos, as well as migrants from Cuba and Vietnam. All were detained at a military base in Djibouti since May after a federal judge, appointed by President Biden, temporarily blocked the deportations.

While some justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented, others, including Elana Kagan, supported the majority decision, affirming that the previous injunction against deportation was no longer enforceable following the Supreme Court’s recent rulings.

Despite the high court’s decision, a district judge in Boston had maintained an injunction against the deportations, prompting the Trump administration to seek clarification from the Supreme Court. The justices clarified that the injunction issued by the Biden-appointed judge is invalid because it was based on an order that had been stayed or blocked by the Supreme Court.

One of the deported individuals, Dian Peter Domach, a citizen of South Sudan, was arrested by ICE in May 2024. The court emphasized that the rules of litigation dictate such legal processes should occur in lower courts, and the current order simply clarifies the process, allowing the deportations to proceed.

Justice Sotomayor criticized the Court’s decision, highlighting a lack of transparency regarding its rationale, and questioned the administration’s approach to legal procedures. Litigation concerning the merits of deporting these individuals will continue in lower courts, but in the meantime, the eight migrants are set to be repatriated to South Sudan.