The Trump administration has asked the United States Supreme Court to revive, while an appeal continues, a policy that permits migrants to be removed to countries other than their own without the advance process required by lower courts.
The emergency application was docketed Thursday as Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D. It asks the justices to stay a federal judge’s ruling that the removal policy violates federal immigration procedure and the Fifth Amendment. The First Circuit left most of that ruling intact and, late Wednesday, allowed it to take effect.
The dispute is not about whether the government may ever use a third country. It concerns what notice and opportunity to object must come first. The administration says the lower-court orders disrupt diplomatic arrangements and an important removal mechanism. The migrants say a person must have a meaningful chance to raise a fear of persecution or torture before boarding a flight to a country with which that person may have no connection.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency matters from the First Circuit, requested a response by 4 p.m. Eastern time on September 28. The application is therefore pending; the Supreme Court has not decided whether to stay the judgment or review the merits.
The Supreme Court docket for No. 26A406 contains the application and the response schedule.
