It was one of the most dramatic turns in the bitter battle over Trump\u2019s deportation policy: On Tuesday evening, a U.S. federal judge ordered that the United States must retain full control over deported migrants who had apparently already been flown to South Sudan \u2013 including people from Myanmar and Vietnam. And although the plane carrying them was already in the air, it has now become, at least for the time being, a prison above the clouds. No one is allowed to disembark. No one is allowed to disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The courtroom battle \u2013 and Judge Murphy\u2019s command<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling followed an emergency hearing before the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. Federal Judge Brian E. Murphy, a Biden appointee, had already issued an order in April prohibiting deportations to third countries without prior hearings. But the Trump administration apparently ignored that order \u2013 and, according to attorneys from human rights organizations and investigations by journalists, began deporting migrants not only to their home countries, but deliberately to third countries such as South Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit was spearheaded by the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, supported by civil society groups, journalists, and observers from the affected regions. As journalists, we have now established an informal monitoring network \u2013 to ensure that the people on board do not vanish into a legal no man\u2019s land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling \u2013 no return flight, but an unmistakable signal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Judge Murphy ruled that the U.S. government must \u201cmaintain custody and control of all members of the plaintiff class currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country.\u201d He left it to the government\u2019s discretion how exactly that custody should look \u2013 but the goal is clear: if the court later finds the deportations were unlawful, repatriation must remain practically feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does that mean in concrete terms? The plane is allowed to continue flying, but no one may leave the aircraft. The affected individuals must remain on board until the court issues further instructions. It is a surreal situation \u2013 a flying holding pattern, a temporary internment camp above the clouds. And the judge made it clear: if anyone attempts to circumvent this order, criminal consequences could follow, up to and including arrest \u2013 for both flight personnel and government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reality on the ground \u2013 and in the cockpit<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One woman reported that her husband \u2013 a Vietnamese man \u2013 had been flown to Africa on Tuesday morning along with up to ten other people. Another man from Myanmar was informed about the destination of his journey only in English shortly before takeoff \u2013 a language he barely understands. His attorney learned of the deportation just hours before the flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to court records, confirmation of his deportation came via an internal email from a Texas immigration official that was leaked to a journalist. It\u2019s a recurring pattern \u2013 little transparency, no understandable communication, no opportunity to resist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An unsafe destination \u2013 and a growing list of violations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Sudan is no safe haven. The civil war between government forces and militias has already claimed more than 400,000 lives. The U.S. government itself acknowledges the danger: since 2011, some South Sudanese living in the U.S. have been granted Temporary Protected Status, shielding them from deportation. Just recently, Trump\u2019s Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem extended those protections \u2013 apparently without consequence for the deportations to that very country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest U.S. State Department human rights report describes South Sudan as a country rife with systematic human rights abuses \u2013 including arbitrary executions, torture, disappearances, and sexualized violence. And yet people are being sent back into exactly that reality \u2013 without due process, without hearings, without protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A victory not yet won, and hope in the air<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flight was not diverted. The people were not brought back. But they were not forgotten either. That is the real message. The judiciary has sent a signal that there are red lines \u2013 and that violations will not go unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether and how these migrants will ever set foot on solid ground again remains unclear. But one thing is certain \u2013 the rule of law did not surrender in this moment. The battle was fierce \u2013 but the goal remains: not to make people objects of a deterrence policy, but subjects of a legal order that still matters \u2013 even in the era of Trump. And now? Coffee, and onward...<\/p>\n
Es war eine der dramatischsten Wendungen im erbitterten Streit um Trumps Deportationspolitik: Ein US-Bundesrichter hat am sp\u00e4ten Dienstagabend angeordnet, dass die Vereinigten Staaten alle Kontrolle \u00fcber abgeschobene Migranten behalten m\u00fcssen, die offenbar bereits nach S\u00fcdsudan ausgeflogen wurden \u2013 darunter Menschen aus Myanmar und Vietnam. Und obwohl das Flugzeug mit den Betroffenen bereits in der Luft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dark-america","category-deportations-under-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n