On September 29, 2026, the Supreme Court issued a one-page, unsigned ruling allowing the Trump administration to resume mass deportations of immigrants to third countries temporarily while litigation is pending. The Court said that it would hear oral arguments in December, with a final decision expected next year.
A brief filed on September 28, 2026, on behalf of a group of immigrants by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Human Rights First, and the National Immigration Litigation Alliance argued that U.S. laws “prohibit removal to any country where a person faces likely persecution or torture. Yet [the Trump administration’s] policy permits removal to any newly selected third country without meaningful notice of the destination or a meaningful opportunity to raise a country-specific fear claim. And, where the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) relies on a non-individualized diplomatic assurance, the policy permits removal without any notice or process at all.”
