Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Revive Fast Third-Country Deportations

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on September 24, 2026 to lift lower-court orders requiring that migrants get a meaningful chance to contest being deported to countries other than their homeland, after an appeals court upheld a Boston judge's ruling that the practice, without that process, is unlawful. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices the ruling had already forced cancellation of a flight carrying 70 people with criminal convictions, arguing delays could unravel agreements with nearly two dozen receiving countries.

The request follows allegations this month that two men deported to Equatorial Guinea were beaten and held at gunpoint. The Supreme Court previously let the deportations proceed temporarily while litigation continued; whether it will do so again, and for how long, remains undecided.