U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy defied the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on deportations, claiming that his order blocking the removal of illegal immigrants may remain in effect.
Murphy’s order follows the Supreme Court ruling 6-3 that the Trump administration can proceed with the deportations of migrants to third countries. The judge previously ruled on May 21 that migrants were to remain in U.S. custody, writing, “During that 15-day period, the individual must remain within the custody or control of DHS, and must be afforded access to counsel that is commensurate with the access they would be afforded if they were seeking to move to reopen from within the United States’ borders.”
The Trump administration said Murphy’s Monday-evening move to enforce his order is “unprecedented defiance” of the Supreme Court’s greater authority.
“The district court’s ruling of last night is a lawless act of defiance that, once again, disrupts sensitive diplomatic relations and slams the brakes on the Executive’s lawful efforts to effectuate third-country removals,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote to Supreme Court Justices, adding, “For over two months now, the Executive has labored under an injunction that this Court yesterday deemed unenforceable.”
“This Court should immediately make clear that the district court’s enforcement order has no effect, and put a swift end to the ongoing irreparable harm to the Executive Branch and its agents, who remain under baseless threat of contempt as they are forced to house dangerous criminal aliens at a military base in the Horn of Africa that now lies on the borders of a regional conflict,” he wrote.
