The United States Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue third-country deportations, halting a lower-court ruling that paused such removals over questions of due process.
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that → allow → process
On Tuesday, the high court granted the administration’s emergency request to resume the deportations, which involve sending immigrants to countries they may have no connection to.
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they → grant → connection
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administration → deport → Sudan
It also does not include an explanation or a list of how the justices voted.
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justices → include → explanation
But at the bottom of Tuesday’s order, the court’s three left-leaning justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan – indicated they would have denied the Trump administration’s petition.
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they → lean → petition
The Supreme Court’s decision to pause the lower court ruling is temporary.
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decision → pause → ruling
The order calls for arguments to be heard in December.
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arguments → call → December
That hearing comes as Trump administration continues its appeal against the lower court’s ruling, handed down by Judge Brian Murphy in Boston, Massachusetts.
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administration → come → Boston
Murphy had ruled that immigrants must be given a “meaningful” chance to raise safety concerns before their removal to third-party countries.
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immigrants → rule → countries
In pausing such deportations, Murphy indicated that some immigrants may have been denied the opportunity to challenge their deportations as part of their due process rights.
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immigrants → pause → rights
Tuesday, however, is not the first time the Supreme Court justices have weighed in on the practice of forcibly sending people to third countries, which Trump dramatically stepped up since his return to office in 2025.
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Trump → weigh → 2025
Trump campaigned on a pledge to implement the “largest deportation operation in American history”, and his officials have argued that third-country deportations are a means of removing individuals whose home countries may not accept them.
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countries → campaign → them
In June 2025, the Supreme Court also issued an unsigned order allowing such removals to proceed.
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removals → issue → order
That cleared the way for eight men, including nationals of Cuba, Myanmar and Vietnam, to be deported to South Sudan, a country the US State Department advises against visiting because of “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.
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Department → clear → crime
The Department of Homeland Security at the time called the removals “a win”, while rights groups said the move flouted basic legal protections.
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move → call → protections
Critics have expressed concern that many of the governments receiving third-country deportations have a record of human rights abuses.
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many → express → abuses
Third-country deportations have been used to bypass court protection orders that prevent immigrants from being sent back to their home countries due to fears of persecution.
But advocates say that some of those third-party countries have ultimately sent deportees, including asylum seekers, back to the places where they feared they would be at risk of torture or other harms.
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they → use → torture
At least 35 countries have signed agreements with the Trump administration to take in the third-country nationals, according to a tally by the nonprofits Refugees International and Human Rights First.
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countries → sign → nonprofits
The groups estimate that more than 25,000 people have been subject to third-country deportations so far.
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people → estimate → deportations
On Monday, human rights experts at the United Nations wrote to the US government urging a halt to such removals, warning they were putting deportees at heightened risk of abuse.
“At gravest risk are children, women, persons with disabilities, victims of trafficking, LGBT persons, human rights defenders, stateless persons and other people in extremely vulnerable situations,” the experts said.
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experts → write → situations
On Tuesday, Burundi became the latest country to enter an agreement with the US to take non-citizen deportations.
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Burundi → become → deportations
Officials said the country would only take in people who were not facing prosecution and had no links to “terrorism”.
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who → say → terrorism
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