The Courts Could Stop the U.S. From Deporting Migrants to Dangerous Countries They’ve Never Visited

A court case could determine limits on deportations to “third countries” that are not an immigrant’s country of origin.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

The Trump administration is trying to deport more migrants to countries other than the ones they came from, including war-torn and unstable nations like Libya and Ukraine. One court case could determine whether undocumented immigrants can do anything to stop it.

The case, currently being heard by a district court in Massachusetts, concerns what due process rights migrants in the country illegally have once they receive a deportation order and what steps the government must take before sending them to a third country if their home country won’t take them.

Experts say these “third country” deportations have happened for years, but not with the same frequency as under the Trump administration, and it’s pushing due process into a gray area.