A federal judge in Boston ruled on Wednesday that the deportations of the Trump administration of eight men convicted of violent crimes to South Sudan “without a doubt” violated an order prior to giving them due proper process, including a “significant opportunity to object” to their moves to a country other than their own.
However, Judge Brian Murphy, from the United States District Court for the Massachusetts district, did not order the return of the plane with those deported to the United States, as the plaintiffs had requested.
Instead, the judge seemed willing to take the Trump administration in his word that it would be possible for the government to conduct interviews with the detainees to determine whether they have a reasonable or credible fear of being deported to South Sudan.
In an orders monitoring series issued Wednesday night, Murphy established the requirements that the Government must meet to do so, saying that the government has the mandate to give migrants a minimum of 10 days to generate concerns about the security risks that can be supported if they are sent to a third country. If it is found that the migrant has a “reasonable fear,” Murphy said the government must reopen its immigration procedures. If they do not demonstrate a reasonable fear, the government must still provide a “significant opportunity and a minimum of 15 days” to reopen its case.
In a memorandum that clarifies his order, Murphy criticized the apparent understanding of the government of what meant “significant opportunity” when he initially issued a court order last month that limited migrants removals to third countries.
The assistant secretary of the Department of National Security, Tricia McLaughlin, and the interim director of ICE Todd Lyons speak in a presierman who indicates that eight people convicted of violent crimes were placed on a deportation flight from Texas addressed to South Sudan, on May 21, 2025.
National Security Department
“Give each credit to the accused account, the non -citizens in question had less than 24 hours of notice and zero notice of commercial schedule, before being placed on a plane and sent to a country in which the United States Department of the United States issues the following warning:” does not travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping and armed conflict, “Murphy wrote.” As detailed in the registry during the registry during today More facts regarding the lack of information information, the hast and confused notice that people received, the barriers of the language and the access complex to the lawyer and confirm the conclusion of this court that there is no reasonable interpretation of the preliminary judicial order of the court could support yesterday’s events. “
The assistant secretary of National Security of Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, described the judge of the judge “upset” in a statement on Wednesday night.
“These depraved people have had their day in court and have received final deportation orders,” he said in the statement. “A reminder of who was on this plane: murderers, children’s rapists, an individual who violated a mentally and physical disabled person. The message that this activist judge is sending to the victims and their families is that we do not care. President Trump and Secretary Noem are working every day to get the vicious criminals from our country while the activist judges are fighting to take them back to the US soil. “
In an early judicial hearing on Wednesday, deported men’s lawyers argued that the plane should be returned to the US. And men should be provided that “it can only take place on American soil,” said Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Alliance of Immigration Litigation.
Under the circumstances, it would be a “legal nightmare and logistics” for men arrested to get access to a lawyer and obtain the information they need to present a challenge, he said.
“I have some serious confidentiality, privacy concerns about where this reasonable fear interview will take place,” he said. “Who will carry out this reasonable interview of fear, but most importantly, how will they have access to a lawyer, who have the right to have to discuss the reasonable fear process? How are they going to investigate and learn about the conditions in South Sudan? How are they going to present evidence that they have a reasonable fear.”
Realmuto also raised concerns about finding interviews and conducting interviews with the personnel of citizenship and American immigration services remotely in multiple time areas.
The deputy director of the United States immigration and customs control, Madison Sheahan, with the interim director of the application of immigration and customs of the United States, Todd Lyons, speaks during a press conference at the ICE headquarters, in Washington, on May 21, 2025.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
In his order, Murphy presented the requirements for interviews, saying that they must be done in private, with access to lawyers and an interpreter, and a necessary technological access “according to the access they would receive if they were in custody of the DHS within the edges of the United States.”
During the judicial hearing before, the judge said that the interviews were carried out in an “appropriate place with an appropriate degree of privacy”, even if that means “renting a room in a Holiday Inn.”
Murphy’s order also said that migrants and lawyers should receive no less than 72 hours of warning that a reasonable fear interview has been scheduled.
On Tuesday, Murphy had issued an order that ordered the Government to maintain the custody of any person covered by their preliminary court order that is in the process of being transferred to South Sudan or any other country “to guarantee the practical viability of the return if the court considers that such removal were illegal.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, DHS confirmed that eight migrants were placed on a deportation flight from Texas directed to South Sudan devastated by the war on Monday, although they warned that this would not be the final destination of migrants.
McLaughlin, the DHS spokesman, told journalists at that press conference that “no country on earth wanted to accept them because their crimes are very monstrous and barbarian.”
Several of the men were condemned for first degree murder and in the second degree, according to the information published by DHS.
Kyaw Mya, citizen of Burma, was convicted of lascivious acts with a victim child of less than 12 years of age. Nyo Myint, citizen of Burma, was convicted of first -degree sexual assault that involved a mental and physically unable to resist.
Another was convicted of theft, possession of a firearm and driving under influence.
“A local judge in Massachusetts is trying to force the United States to recover these exceptionally barbarian monsters that have a clear and present threat to the security of the US people and American victims,” McLaughlin said during the press conference. “While we fully comply with the law and judicial orders, it is absolutely absurd that a district judge tries to dictate the foreign policy and national security of the United States of America.”
When asked where the eight men were, McLaughlin said he could not “reveal where his current whereabouts are at this time”, but that they were still in the custody of the DHS. The officials refused to identify their final destination, citing security concerns.
“I would warn him to suppose his final destination is South Sudan. As for that agreement, he would definitely send him to the details of the State Department,” he added.
The authorities said that the countries of origin of the men refused to accept them, so the DHS in association with the State Department found a country that would accept them through a “third country safe agreement.”
“I can say that their countries of origin refuse to recover these people,” said the director of Immigration and Customs Compliance with the United States, Todd Lyons.
Photos. Mexico, Peter Domach.
DHS
“Ice arrest is not punitive. We detract and eliminate after six months or 180 days. If we do not have a country that recovers its citizens, we have the option to find a third safe country,” Lyons said.
However, McLaughlin argued to journalists that the eight migrants received due process.
“We are following the due process under the constitution of the United States. These people have received and their lawyers have received close attention. As for these real agreements, we can contact you more information from the State Department,” he said.
Outside the court on Wednesday, migrant lawyers spoke with journalists who say South Sudan is a country that the State Department advises Americans not to travel.
“Categorically they are not safe,” Realmuto told reporters. “They are places where members of our class are not sure, and do not have the opportunity to consult with the lawyer and make an informed decision about the fear that they have to be deported to those countries.”
The lawyers also said that they have concerns about the conditions that migrants, who continue to be held in an asphalt, are experiencing.
“No one can consult with them from where they are at this time, and that includes a lawyer of the only person who really had a lawyer at the time of their removal,” said Anwen Hughes, director of Legal Strategy at Human Rights First, to journalists on Wednesday after the hearing.
ABC News Ely Brown contributed to this report.
