The Supreme Court has handed the Trump administration another temporary win on deportations.
On Tuesday, the justices let the administration resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own, granting the Justice Department's emergency request to put on hold a ruling by Boston-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that the policy is unlawful.
The policy allows the government to send deportees to so-called third countries — nations other than their country of origin — without first giving them notice and a chance to show the harms they may face. The administration says that speeds up removals when returning someone directly to their home country isn't immediately possible.
More than 25,000 migrants have been deported to 29 countries under the policy, according to tallies by human rights groups, with the vast majority sent to Mexico. The administration has also carried out removals to politically unstable nations including South Sudan, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, and the Central African Republic.
The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented and would have kept the lower court's order in place.
The ruling is temporary and does not decide whether the policy is lawful. The court agreed to hear oral arguments in December, with a formal decision to follow.