Trump administration deports about 12 people to South Sudan, lawyers say
Court filings said about 12 people have been removed to war-torn African country, despite a court order requiring delay.
The Trump administration has sent about a dozen migrants to South Sudan, according to lawyers representing some of the detainees.
Court filings on May 20 said about 12 people were en route to the African country, which the State Department says has significant human rights issues and remains unstable, years after the end of a civil war.
Their removal violates a Massachusetts judge's order from April that requires migrants to be allowed due process before their deportation, lawyers said.
In a filing late on May 20, the same federal district judge, Brian Murphy, ordered the government to maintain custody and control of those being removed to South Sudan or any other third country. He said this was "to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful."
His order said the court expected the migrants to be treated "humanely."
The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
In filings, Jacqueline Brown, lawyer for a man from Myanmar, said DHS tried to deport him to Libya on May 7. He had been told in 2023 to leave the country.
A May 19 DHS notice of removal said he’d be deported to South Africa, before officials updated it a few minutes later to say he'd be deported to South Sudan.
On May 20, Brown said her client was no longer in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas. An 8:36 a.m. email from a detention officer to Brown then said the man had been removed to South Sudan.
Later that morning, a separate email from the wife of one detained Vietnamese man, held in the same Port Isabel facility, said her husband’s removal order indicated he would be sent to Vietnam. Then she learned he’d also been deported to South Sudan. The group, she said, includes people from Laos, Thailand, Pakistan, Korea and Mexico.
South Sudan, located in East Africa, has been embroiled in several civil wars, most recently from 2013 to 2020.
The country has had political violence and instability since then, with civilian deaths, abductions and displacements as recently as 2024, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. South Sudan has one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, the council said.
Lawyers for the men filed an emergency motion to temporarily block their removal to South Sudan. The administration failed to allow them to apply for protection to the United Nations Convention Against Torture to prevent them from being removed to South Sudan, lawyers said.
Murphy set a hearing for 11 a.m. on May 21 to review the emergency motion.
He instructed government lawyers to address the time and manner that officials gave notice to each migrant to remove them to a third country. He also instructed the government to explain whether migrants had opportunities to raise fear-based claims about their deportations.
(This story has updated to add new information.)
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.