Background on the Migrants and Their Destinations
A group of migrants, including two Cubans and one Mexican national, were intended to be deported by the United States to Sudan South, a war-torn country with a travel warning from the U.S. Department of State. The migrants, convicted of violent crimes, were to be sent there as their home countries refused to accept them.
- Two Cubans: Enrique Arias Hierro, charged with homicide and armed robbery; José Manuel Rodríguez Quiñones, convicted of attempted murder and cocaine trafficking.
- Mexican national: Jesús Muñoz Gutiérrez, sentenced to life for murder.
- Two Burmese nationals
- One Vietnamese national
- One Laotian national
- One South Sudanese national
Judge’s Ruling and Trump’s Response
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Boston ruled that this deportation violates his previous decision, as the migrants were not given adequate time to defend their cases. The judge ordered that the migrants remain in Djibouti instead of Sudan South.
President Donald Trump criticized the judge and his drastic immigration policies, calling the eight migrants “monsters” on his social media platform Truth Social.
“A judge ordered that some of the most violent criminals on the planet be rushed to Sudan South and kept in Djibouti, despite the judge not naming those countries in his ruling,” Trump wrote. “I will not allow these monsters to reach their final destination.”
Trump expressed frustration with the situation, stating that judges are “completely out of control” and harming the country. He called for the conservative-majority Supreme Court to “put an end to the gridlock caused by radical leftists.”
Judge’s Conditions for Deportation to a Third Country
According to Judge Murphy, migrants facing deportation to a third country must be informed and granted a minimum of ten days to appeal, as per the United Nations Convention against Torture. The judge also allowed six migrants to claim “fear of torture or mistreatment” in the third country with legal assistance.
- If the Department of Homeland Security deems the fear unfounded, migrants must be given at least 15 days to request a review.
- The judge left it to the government’s discretion to either bring the migrants back for the process or conduct it where they are under the supervision of Homeland Security agents.
Trump’s Complaint About ICE Agents in Djibouti
Trump expressed dissatisfaction with having to leave “a significant number” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Djibouti, an African nation bordering Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia, to guard the deported migrants.
