Trump Officials Violated Court Order over South Sudan Deportation Attempt, Judge Says

Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First and Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, speak with reporters outside the federal courthouse, after a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, in Boston, Massachusetts, US, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Nate Raymond
Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First and Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, speak with reporters outside the federal courthouse, after a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, in Boston, Massachusetts, US, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Nate Raymond
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Trump Officials Violated Court Order over South Sudan Deportation Attempt, Judge Says

Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First and Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, speak with reporters outside the federal courthouse, after a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, in Boston, Massachusetts, US, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Nate Raymond
Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First and Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, speak with reporters outside the federal courthouse, after a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, in Boston, Massachusetts, US, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Nate Raymond

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the US government violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, opening another front in a battle between Donald Trump and judges who have imposed checks on the Republican president's hardline immigration policies.

US District Judge Brian Murphy said US officials risked being held in contempt of court for violating a preliminary injunction he issued in April to block the administration from sending deportees to countries other than their own without the opportunity to raise any concerns they had for their safety.

At a hearing in Boston, the judge said the US Department of Homeland Security failed to provide six migrants covered by his injunction a meaningful opportunity to contest being sent to South Sudan when it notified them of that possibility less than 24 hours before they were loaded onto a plane.

That was "plainly insufficient" notice, according to the judge. He later issued an order making clear that non-citizens must be given at least 10 days to raise a claim that they fear for their safety before they are deported to a country other than their own.

"The department's actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court's order," Murphy said.

Murphy, who was appointed by Trump's Democratic predecessor President Joe Biden, warned of the possibility of holding officials in criminal contempt, but did not immediately punish anyone.

The White House in a statement called Murphy "a far-left activist judge," while a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department called his ruling "deranged."

The department said eight men from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan had been deported, and they had been convicted of murder, armed robbery and other serious crimes. Six of them were covered by Murphy's order, the judge said.

"These are the monsters that the district judge is trying to protect," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told reporters at a press conference ahead of Wednesday's hearing.

Immigration rights advocates have urged Murphy to order the men be returned to the US.

The judge instead directed officials to grant them interviews after at least 72 hours notice to assess if they have any reasonable fears of going to South Sudan and give them at least 15 days to seek to move to reopen their immigration proceedings if officials deem their claimed fears insufficient.

Murphy told lawyers that while it was his prerogative that the men be brought back to the United States during that process, the Homeland Security Department had the discretion to keep them overseas.

'SENT TO A WAR-TORN COUNTRY'

The judge's finding was one of the strongest rebukes so far to Trump's administration since the president returned to office in January. As a presidential candidate last year, Trump pledged to crack down on illegal immigration but many of his attempts to step up deportations have been impeded by the courts.

Justice Department lawyer Elainis Perez said at the hearing that Murphy's April preliminary injunction did not specifically state how much notice was required, and the expedited deportations did not violate rights protected under the US Constitution.

South Sudan has long been dangerous even for locals. The US State Department advises citizens not to travel there due to violent crime and armed conflict. The United Nations has said the African country's political crisis could reignite a brutal civil war that ended in 2018.

"They were being sent to a war-torn country where their very life and safety is under threat," Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the migrants at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, told reporters.

The dispute echoes another case in which Washington-based US District Judge James Boasberg found that the administration violated his order to pause the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador.

Boasberg also launched a criminal contempt investigation, but an appeals court has temporarily blocked it while the Trump administration challenges his probe. Trump has called for his impeachment, drawing a rebuke from Chief US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.

In another case, Maryland-based US District Judge Paula Xinis said the administration did not adequately explain how it was complying with her order to facilitate the return of a Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador despite an earlier court order that he not be sent there.

Trump and US officials appointed by him have accused judges of overstepping their authority and of seeking to thwart his agenda.

The case before Murphy stems from a legal challenge brought by immigrant advocates to the administration's push to deport migrants with final orders of removal to countries other than their own, including migrants who have protections from being sent to their home countries due to safety concerns.

Murphy sided with the plaintiffs, ruling last month that any migrants being sent to a third country were entitled to due process under the US Constitution's Fifth Amendment and must have a meaningful opportunity to raise any fears for their safety.

In an emergency hearing on Tuesday after the advocates said they learned migrants were being flown to South Sudan, Murphy ordered the administration not to let the migrants leave the custody of US immigration authorities.

Throughout Wednesday's proceedings, the men were kept on a plane in a location that officials sought to avoid publicly disclosing in court.

Only after Murphy ruled did White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller appear in a social media post on X to confirm they were currently in Djibouti. He accused Murphy of "putting the lives of our personnel in danger."

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, South Sudan police spokesperson James Mande Enoka said that when the migrants arrived, they would be investigated and then "be again deported to the correct country."

Given those comments, Murphy ordered the Trump administration to submit a declaration explaining why the men's deportation would not violate a prohibition against them being shuttled back to their country of origin.



Israel Killed 30 Iranian Security Chiefs and 11 Nuclear Scientists, Israeli Official Says

A view shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a building on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A view shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a building on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Israel Killed 30 Iranian Security Chiefs and 11 Nuclear Scientists, Israeli Official Says

A view shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a building on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A view shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a building on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarizing Israel's 12-day air war with Iran.

In the United States, an independent expert said a review of commercial satellite imagery showed only a small number of the approximately 30 Iranian missiles that penetrated Israel's air defenses managed to hit any militarily significant targets.

"Iran has yet to produce missiles that demonstrate great accuracy," Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the CNA Corporation specializing in satellite imagery, told Reuters.

In Israel, the senior military official said Israel's June 13 opening strike on Iran severely damaged its aerial defenses and destabilized its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict.

Israel's air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran's missile production during the war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, the official said.

"The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime's ability to enrich uranium to 90% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralized," the official said.

Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defenses.

Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel.

Eveleth, the independent US expert, said Iran's missile forces were not accurate enough to destroy small military targets like US-made F-35 jet fighters in their shelters.

"Because of this the only targets they can hit with regularity are large cities or industrial targets like the refinery at Haifa," he told Reuters.

Iranian missile salvos, which were limited by Israeli airstrikes in Iran, did not have the density to achieve high rates of destruction, he wrote on X.

"At the current level of performance, there is effectively nothing stopping Israel from conducting the same operation in the future with similar results," he wrote.

In a statement on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had directed the military to draft plans to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran's support for militant operations against Israel.

Israel's military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General, Eyal Zamir, said on Friday the outcome in Iran could help advance Israeli objectives against the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip.

Zamir told troops in Gaza an Israeli ground operation, known as "Gideon's Chariots," would in the near future achieve its goal of greater control of the Palestinian enclave and present options to Israel's government for further action.