US judge warns deportation to South Sudan may breach court order

A US federal judge has warned that the government may be in contempt of court after a group of migrants was deported to South Sudan, possibly violating a court order that protects individuals from being removed without a chance to challenge their deportation.

Judge Brian Murphy raised the alarm on Tuesday following an emergency submission by immigration lawyers who said a plane had landed in South Sudan carrying about a dozen deportees, some of whom were not South Sudanese nationals.

"I have a strong indication that my preliminary injunction order has been violated," Judge Murphy told a lawyer for the Department of Justice.

"Based on what I have been told this seems like it may be contempt."

The warning follows Murphy’s April 18 order that barred the US government from deporting people to countries other than their homelands without giving them a "meaningful opportunity" to object.

The deportation flight reportedly included individuals from Myanmar and Vietnam, with one Burmese man, referred to in court documents as N.M., said to have limited English skills and had refused to sign his removal notice.

His lawyer only discovered he was no longer in custody after checking the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee locator system.

When the lawyer asked where N.M. had been taken, the response was "South Sudan," according to court filings.

The legal team believes a Vietnamese man, identified as T.T.P., was also removed without proper notice.

The Vietnamese man's spouse wrote to his lawyer saying the deported group included nationals from Laos, Thailand, Pakistan, and Mexico. "Please help!" the email read. "They cannot be allowed to do this."

Judge Murphy, who is based in Boston, did not order the flight to return, but said the deported individuals must remain in custody and be "treated humanely" while the matter is reviewed further.

He added that this could include keeping the plane on the tarmac once it lands.

A lawyer for the Department of Justice told the court that N.M. had been sent to Myanmar, not South Sudan, while declining to say where T.T.P. was deported, calling it “classified.” She noted that he had been convicted of murder.

An attorney for the Department of Homeland Security said at least one person on the flight had a rape conviction.

Judge Murphy's latest intervention comes after reports last month that the government was preparing to deport migrants to Libya, which he said would also breach his ruling.

The deportations are part of wider efforts by the Trump administration to carry out mass removals of undocumented migrants.

Some deportation arrangements involve sending people to countries they have never lived in, drawing legal and human rights concerns.

Rwanda recently confirmed talks with the US about accepting deportees, while other countries reportedly approached include Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, and Moldova.

South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, remains unstable and faces warnings from the US State Department due to crime, armed conflict, and kidnappings.

This is not the first legal clash over Trump-era deportation efforts. In Washington DC, another judge, James Boasberg, last month said there was "probable cause" to hold officials in criminal contempt for violating a separate order related to Venezuelan migrants.