The Supreme Court of the United States, with a conservative majority, once again lifted limits on expulsions of illegal immigrants to third countries on Tuesday, September 29 until further notice, and decided to take up the matter. Against the opinion of the three progressive judges (out of nine in total), the Court thus granted an appeal from the Trump administration which asked it to suspend the decisions of lower courts. In December it will examine the merits of the case, in particular to rule on the legality of the new directives issued on the subject in 2025 by the Ministry of Internal Security.
In February, a judge in Boston (north-east) considered these directives “illegal”, ruling that people targeted by expulsion to a country other than their own must be able to invoke the risk of being victims of persecution or torture there. His decision was confirmed by an appeals court on September 18, before the Trump administration urgently appealed to the Supreme Court to request a suspension, at least temporarily.
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His legal advisor, John Sauer, had cited “substantial logistical problems” caused by the trial decision, which would have forced the Department of Homeland Security to “cancel a flight to three separate countries carrying 70 aliens with criminal convictions.” He had defended expulsions to third countries, presented as an “essential tool to expel certain foreigners, including some of the worst foreign criminals”.
“Deport a person to the wrong country”
The opposing party had instead asked the Supreme Court to reject this request for a stay, arguing that this “would not prevent expulsions to third countries, but would simply require them to be carried out legally”.
According to the new guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security, such expulsions are authorized only on the condition that the country in question provides guarantees that those expelled “will not be persecuted or tortured” and that the US State Department considers these guarantees “credible”, without any possible recourse.
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The issue is whether “the government can, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where they will likely be persecuted or tortured,” explained Judge Brian Murphy in his decision in February. He considered that people affected by expulsion to a third country should be notified, then given a significant period of time to file an appeal on the basis of the United Nations Convention against Torture.
More than 25,000 people deported to third countries
In this case, this magistrate had suspended in 2025 the expulsion of a group of immigrants, most of them nationals of Asian countries, to South Sudan, a poor country in the grip of conflict. But the Supreme Court, urgently requested by the Trump administration, authorized this expulsion to South Sudan, where the immigrants concerned arrived in July 2025.
According to an investigation published on September 21 by the journalistic consortium Forbidden Stories, the American government has expelled more than 25,000 people to third countries, under the terms of secret agreements made with 35 countries to welcome them. This investigation carried out by 72 journalists from 23 media outlets from 15 countries shows that the American government has allocated at least 410 million dollars to be paid to host countries or to UN agencies allowing returns.
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An AFP investigation in early 2026 also highlighted pressure from Washington on African countries, such as threats of customs duties, suspension of visa issuance or reduction of aid, to force them to accept deportees.
With AFP
