US must keep control of migrants sent to South Sudan in case removals were unlawful, judge rules

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ruled that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling late Tuesday after an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals to other countries.

Murphy said the government must ''maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.''

While Murphy left the details to the government's discretion, he said he expects the migrants ''will be treated humanely.''

Attorneys for the migrants told the judge that immigration authorities may have sent up to a dozen people from several countries to Africa, which they argue violates a court order saying people must get a ''meaningful opportunity'' to argue that sending them to a country outside their homeland would threaten their safety.

The apparent removal of one man from Myanmar was confirmed in an email from an immigration official in Texas, according to court documents. He was informed only in English, a language he does not speak well, and his attorneys learned of the plan hours before his deportation flight, they said.

A woman also reported that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other people were flown to Africa Tuesday morning, attorneys from the National Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.

The attorneys asked Murphy for an emergency court order to prevent the deportations. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would ''clearly'' violate his ruling, which also applies to people who have otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.

Murphy said in his Tuesday order that U.S. officials must appear in court Wednesday to identify the migrants impacted, address when and how they learned they would be removed to a third country, and what opportunity they were given to raise a fear-based claim. He also ruled that the government must provide information about the whereabouts of the migrants apparently already removed.

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

South Sudan's police spokesperson Major General James Monday Enoka told The Associated Press Wednesday that no migrants had arrived in the country and that if they arrive, they would be investigated and again "re-deported to their correct country" if found not to be South Sudanese.

Some countries do not accept deportations from the United States, which has led the Trump administration to strike agreements with other countries, including Panama, to house them. The Trump administration has sent Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law hotly contested in the courts.

South Sudan has suffered repeated waves of violence since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 amid hopes it could use its large oil reserves to bring prosperity to a region long battered by poverty. Just weeks ago, the country's top U.N. official warned that fighting between forces loyal to the president and a vice president threatened to spiral again into full-scale civil war.

The situation is ''darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 conflicts, which took over 400,000 lives,'' Nicholas Haysom, head of the almost 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission.

The U.S. State Department's annual report on South Sudan, published in April 2024, says ''significant human rights issues'' include arbitrary killings, disappearances, torture or inhumane treatment by security forces and extensive violence based on gender and sexual identity.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department has given Temporary Protected Status to a small number of South Sudanese already living in the United States since the country was founded in 2011, shielding them from deportation because conditions were deemed unsafe for return. Secretary Kristi Noem recently extended those protections to November to allow for a more thorough review.

South Sudan's diplomatic relations with the U.S grew tense in April when a deportation row led to the revocation of visas and a ban on South Sudanese nationals.

The U.S is one of the biggest donors to South Sudan's humanitarian aid programs with the total funding in 2024 standing at over $640 million, according to the U.S embassy in South Sudan.

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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana, Tim Sullivan and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.