The Trump administration appeared to have breached the court order by deporting several immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan, a federal judge said on Tuesday. During an urgent virtual session in Boston, US district Judge Brian Murphy informed a department of justice attorney that this potential violation could amount to criminal contempt.He was weighing ordering the aircraft transporting the migrants to the African nation to return, Reuters reproted.Previously, Judge Murphy had prohibited the Trump administration from expeditiously deporting migrants to countries other than their origin without first addressing their concerns about potential torture or persecution.Legal representatives in a class action lawsuit informed Murphy that approximately eleven migrants detained in Texas were transported to South Sudan on Tuesday morning. Among them was a Myanmar national whose solicitor received notification from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the planned deportation.The legal team discovered their client’s deportation to South Sudan on Tuesday morning. Court documents showed an email from a Vietnamese detainee’s spouse at Port Isabel Detention Centre in Texas, reporting that he and ten others were presumably deported. The group included nationals from Laos, Thailand, Pakistan and Mexico, with the spouse pleading, “Please help! They cannot be allowed to do this.”The migrants’ advocates highlighted South Sudan’s dangerous conditions, even for residents. The United Nations cautioned about the country’s deteriorating political situation potentially rekindling the civil war that concluded in 2018.The Department of Homeland Security remained unresponsive to comment requests. In February, the department directed immigration officers to examine cases of protected individuals for possible re-detention and third-country deportation.On April 18, Murphy, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, issued a preliminary injunction ensuring migrants’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. The order required advance written notice for deportations to unlisted countries and opportunities to express safety concerns.The administration must allow migrants at least 15 days to challenge deportation decisions if officials determine their safety concerns unreasonable.Murphy subsequently amended his injunction to prevent DHS from transferring migrants to other agencies for rapid deportations, following the defence department’s transportation of four Venezuelans from Guantanamo Bay to El Salvador. The judge stated that similar military-operated transfers to Libya would constitute a clear violation.South Sudan’s political landscape is fragile and recent violence between government troops and armed opposition groups has escalated tensions.
