Judge: US Must Keep Control of Migrants05/21 06:19

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials 
must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan 
in case he orders their removals were unlawful.

   U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling after 
an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the Trump 
administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam 
to South Sudan -- despite a court order restricting removals to other countries.

   Murphy said the government must "maintain custody and control of class 
members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, 
to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such 
removals were unlawful."

   While Murphy left the details to the government's discretion, he said he 
expects the migrants "will be treated humanely."

   Attorneys for the migrants told the judge that immigration authorities may 
have sent up to a dozen people from several countries to Africa, which they 
argue violates a court order saying people must get a "meaningful opportunity" 
to argue that sending them to a country outside their homeland would threaten 
their safety.

   The apparent removal of one man from Myanmar was confirmed in an email from 
an immigration official in Texas, according to court documents. He was informed 
only in English, a language he does not speak well, and his attorneys learned 
of the plan hours before his deportation flight, they said.

   A woman also reported that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other 
people were flown to Africa Tuesday morning, attorneys from the National 
Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.

   The attorneys asked Murphy for an emergency court order to prevent the 
deportations. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, previously 
found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would "clearly" 
violate his ruling, which also applies to people who have otherwise exhausted 
their legal appeals.

   Murphy said in his Tuesday order that U.S. officials must appear in court 
Wednesday to identify the migrants impacted, address when and how they learned 
they would be removed to a third country, and what opportunity they were given 
to raise a fear-based claim. He also ruled that the government must provide 
information about the whereabouts of the migrants apparently already removed.

   The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately 
return messages seeking comment.

   Some countries do not accept deportations from the United States, which has 
led the Trump administration to strike agreements with other countries, 
including Panama, to house them. The Trump administration has sent Venezuelans 
to a notorious prison in El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law hotly 
contested in the courts.

   South Sudan has suffered repeated waves of violence since gaining 
independence from Sudan in 2011 amid hopes it could use its large oil reserves 
to bring prosperity to a region long battered by poverty. Just weeks ago, the 
country's top U.N. official warned that fighting between forces loyal to the 
president and a vice president threatened to spiral again into full-scale civil 
war.

   The situation is "darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 conflicts, which 
took over 400,000 lives," Nicholas Haysom, head of the almost 20,000-strong 
U.N. peacekeeping mission.

   The U.S. State Department's annual report on South Sudan, published in April 
2024, says "significant human rights issues" include arbitrary killings, 
disappearances, torture or inhumane treatment by security forces and extensive 
violence based on gender and sexual identity.

   The U.S. Homeland Security Department has given Temporary Protected Status 
to a small number of South Sudanese already living in the United States since 
the country was founded in 2011, shielding them from deportation because 
conditions were deemed unsafe for return. Secretary Kristi Noem recently 
extended those protections to November to allow for a more thorough review.