US Supreme Court allows Trump to continue third-country deportations

In practice, 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.

Key points

• That hearing comes as Trump administration continues its appeal against the lower court's ruling, handed down by Judge Brian Murphy in Boston, Massachusetts.
• In June 2025, the Supreme Court additionally issued an unsigned order allowing such removals to proceed.
• The groups estimate that more than 25, 000 individuals have been subject to third-country deportations so far.
• While rights groups remarked the move flouted basic legal protections, the Department of Homeland Security at the time called the removals "a win".
• The Supreme Court's decision to pause the lower court ruling is temporary.

On Tuesday, the high court granted the administration's emergency request to resume the deportations. It involve sending immigrants to countries they may have no connection to.

As is typical for an emergency petition, the court's order was unsigned. It additionally does not include an explanation or a list of how the justices voted.

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.

For context, the Supreme Court's decision to pause the lower court ruling is temporary. The order calls for arguments to be heard in December.

Murphy had ruled that immigrants must be given a "meaningful" chance to raise safety reservations before their removal to third-party 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.

Tuesday, nevertheless, is not the first time the Supreme Court justices have weighed in on the practice of forcibly sending residents to third countries. It trump dramatically stepped up since his return to office in 2025.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to implement the "largest deportation operation in American history", and his authorities have argued that third-country deportations are a means of removing individuals whose home countries may not accept them.

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 since of "crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict".

Critics have expressed concern that plenty of of the governments receiving third-country deportations have a record of human rights abuses.

Third-country deportations have been applied 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.

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.

For context, the groups estimate that more than 25, 000 individuals have been subject to third-country deportations so far.

On Monday, human rights experts at the United Nations wrote to the ‌US ‌administration 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 remarked.

On Tuesday, Burundi became the latest country to enter an agreement with the US to take non-citizen deportations.

Authorities stated the country would only take in individuals who were not facing prosecution and had no links to "terrorism".

In short, US Supreme Court allows Trump to continue third is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.