The administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift restrictions on deporting undocumented immigrants to third countries.
A federal appeals court last week overwhelmingly upheld a lower court ruling that restricted the Trump administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants to countries other than their countries of origin, a practice known as “third-country deportation.”
Late Wednesday, the appeals court overturned an order that had temporarily suspended enforcement of the initial ruling while the appeals judges considered the case.
The U.S. government is now urgently asking the Supreme Court to lift the restrictions on third-country deportations until further notice, describing the measure as “an essential tool for removing certain categories of aliens, including some of the most dangerous foreign criminals.”
Government attorney John Sauer said the lower court’s ruling had “caused significant logistical problems” for deportation operations.
Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States and has taken a number of steps to accelerate deportation proceedings since returning to the White House.
The Trump administration has defended the third-country deportation policy as necessary, noting that the countries of origin of some people targeted for deportation sometimes refuse to accept them.
Congress has established a U.S. policy prohibiting the deportation of people to countries where they could face threats to their lives or be subjected to torture.
Source: Reuters
