(MENAFN) The U.S. Supreme Court has approved the government's request to deport migrants to third-party countries, including conflict-ridden nations like Libya and South Sudan, regardless of the migrants' countries of origin. This ruling overturns a previous lower court decision that blocked such deportations due to safety concerns.

Since reassuming office in January, President Donald Trump has reinstated tough immigration policies, aimed at dismantling what he described as President Joe Biden’s “open border” approach. In February, the Department of Homeland Security extended expedited removal procedures to include third countries, prompting civil rights organizations to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of affected migrants.

In April, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that deporting individuals to countries other than their own without due process was a clear constitutional violation. That injunction reportedly led to the temporary detention of eight migrants at a U.S. military base in Djibouti.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of three dissenting Supreme Court justices, criticized the government for breaching the injunction by deporting six migrants to South Sudan with fewer than 16 hours’ notice and without legal recourse. She argued that the lower courts should have been allowed to handle the complex case thoroughly and accused the federal government of repeatedly ignoring judicial orders.

Both Libya and South Sudan remain under the U.S. State Department’s highest-level travel warnings due to ongoing conflict and instability. The U.S. closed its embassy in Libya in 2014 and, in March, scaled back its diplomatic staff in South Sudan due to worsening security conditions.

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