Judge orders Trump admin to ‘maintain custody’ of migrants deported to South Sudan

A judge Tuesday night ordered the Trump administration to "maintain custody" of a group of migrants whose lawyers say were deported to war-torn South Sudan, where they are not from.

For the second time in less than two weeks, immigration lawyers have gone to federal court to try and stop the Trump administration from deporting a small group of immigrants from the United States to a war-torn country not their own.

Immigration attorneys told the court that at least two of their clients, from Myanmar and Vietnam, were deported Tuesday morning to South Sudan in violation of a court order, and they demanded their return.

“The Court should further restrain all flights carrying class members to South Sudan or any other third country,” the attorneys said. 

At an emergency hearing Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy told the Trump administration to “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country.” This, the judge wrote in a court order, is to “ensure the practical feasibility of return” if the removals are found to have been unlawful. 

A further hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday, where the judge has asked the Trump administration to identify those being removed, the type of notice those individuals received and opportunities they had to “raise a fear-based claim” before their removal to a third country. (A fear-based claim is generally one in which an individual expresses fear of harm like persecution or torture should they be deported.)