US deportations to third countries restricted by court

A US federal appeals court on Friday broadly upheld a ruling restricting the Trump administration's policy of deporting undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said people facing third-country deportations must receive effective advance notice of where they are being sent. The court said they must have a meaningful chance to raise fears of persecution in that country.

Judge Seth Aframe wrote that the right to contest removal based on fear of persecution “means little” without prior notice of the intended destination and a meaningful opportunity to challenge it.

Aframe said the Department of Homeland Security policy would deny that protection to many noncitizens sent to third countries without notice of their destination.

Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or where they could face torture. The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary when some home countries refuse to accept people targeted for removal.