Supreme Court green-lights Trump's third-country deportations
The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to resume rapidly deporting immigrants to "third countries" and will consider the legal questions at a later date. The big picture: The policy of expelling migrants to countries that are not their home country has faced legal challenges from early in the president's second term — and the Supreme Court has once again cleared the administration's way. Driving the news: The court stayed a February 2026 order that immigrants should have "the right to meaningful notice" and should be able to raise concerns before being deported to a third country. The three liberal justices would have denied the administration's application for a stay. That prior order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, much of which was backed by a recent appeals court decision, said the administration's policy "fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons." The case is set to be argued in the December 2026 session, per Tuesday's order granting review. Catch up quick: Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in an application to the justices last week that third-country removals are "an essential tool to remove certain aliens" and pointed to the relief previously granted by the Supreme Court in asking for another stay. He added that the recent appeals court decision had "created substantial logistical problems with ongoing removal operations— including the cancellation of flights." The Supreme Court previously granted the administration a stay in the case following an April 2025 order from Murphy restricting the removals. Again, the three liberal judges dissented, with Sonia Sotomayor writing, "In matters of life and death, it is best to proceed with caution. In this case, the Government took the opposite approach." By the numbers: DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote in an X post last week that the administration had already deported some 25,000 undocumented immigrants to third nations. This is a breaking news story and will be updated.