US court blocks Trump plan to deport migrants to third countries

A federal appeals panel in Boston largely affirmed a February ruling that blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of rapidly deporting migrants to countries other than their own. Writing for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Seth Aframe said migrants are entitled to a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about their safety before being sent to nations with which they have no ties, rejecting the administration’s narrower interpretation of the statute.

The court limited the earlier decision in one respect, reversing a finding on procedural grounds about whether officials must first try to remove migrants to countries where they have established connections. The case arose from a class-action lawsuit testing the scope of due process protections owed to migrants before being placed on flights to third countries.

Advocates for the plaintiffs argued the ruling preserves statutory protections against persecution and torture by preventing expedited removals to places not previously part of removal proceedings. Trina Realmuto, a lawyer with the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said the decision confirmed that agencies cannot sidestep those protections by sending people to countries that were never considered during their cases.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment, and the Trump administration is expected to appeal. Since March 2025, the U.S. has reached agreements allowing the transfer of more than 25,000 migrants to at least 29 third countries, most commonly Mexico, according to a tracker run by Refugees International and Human Rights First. The policy has already reached the Supreme Court twice, including a 2025 instance in which justices allowed the removal of eight men to South Sudan despite U.S. State Department warnings about the country’s security situation. The ruling comes amid other recent legal setbacks for the administration’s immigration agenda, including a federal judge blocking proposed caps on student and journalist visas and a multistate lawsuit challenging a rule to deny green cards to some lawful public-benefits users.