Supreme Court Sides with Trump Administration in Deportation Case, Halts Torture-Claim Protections

Ruling blocks enforcement of court order requiring due process before deporting migrants to third countries

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday handed the Trump administration a procedural victory in its efforts to rapidly deport migrants, ruling that a lower court cannot enforce protections for asylum seekers fearing torture if the justices have stayed the underlying order.

The unsigned ruling grants a motion for clarification from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which had objected to a remedial order issued by a federal judge in Massachusetts after the Court stayed a prior injunction that had blocked no-notice deportations to third countries. The Court’s majority held that once its stay was issued, the remedial order lost legal force.

“Our June 23 order stayed the April 18 preliminary injunction in full,” the Court wrote. “The May 21 remedial order cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable”.

The dispute centers on the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to expedite removals of undocumented migrants, even to countries not listed on th…