The US Supreme Court has allowed Donald Trump's administration to restart deportations of migrants to third countries, overturning a lower court ruling that had required the government to give migrants a chance to explain the risks they might face.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices set aside a ruling by Boston-based District Judge Brian Murphy that had blocked such removals, arguing migrants must be allowed to raise concerns about potential torture or death even after losing their legal appeals.

The majority ruling was unsigned, with the court’s three liberal justices issuing a strong dissent, calling the move a "gross abuse".

“Apparently, the court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in far-flung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a district court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the government to provide notice and process to which the plaintiffs are constitutionally and statutorily entitled,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “That use of discretion is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.”

The case involved eight migrants from Myanmar, South Sudan, Cuba, Mexico, Laos and Vietnam, who were deported in May on a plane reportedly bound for South Sudan.

The Trump administration described them as “the worst of the worst,” saying they had committed crimes such as murder, arson, and armed robbery.

However, lawyers for the migrants disputed this claim, telling the court that many of the individuals had no criminal convictions. The National Immigration Litigation Alliance, which represented the plaintiffs, called the court’s ruling “horrifying”.

Its executive director, Trina Realmuto, said the decision would expose their clients to “torture and death”.

Trump’s administration brought the case to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court last month refused to block Judge Murphy’s original order.

That ruling had temporarily halted deportations and forced the government to hold the migrants in Djibouti, where the US maintains a military base.

US Solicitor General John Sauer told the court that immigration officers had “been forced to establish a makeshift detention facility for dangerous criminals” inside a converted conference room.

He said many deportations could not proceed because the migrants' home countries refused to accept them, leaving US authorities unable to remove them.

The Department of Homeland Security welcomed Monday’s ruling. “Fire up the deportation planes,” said the agency's spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, calling the ruling “a victory for the safety and security of the American people.”

This decision is one of several recent wins for the Trump administration as it pushes ahead with mass deportation plans.

Last month, the court also allowed Trump to end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals, affecting about 350,000 people.

In May, the court backed a temporary freeze on a humanitarian programme that had permitted nearly half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the country for two years.