A hearing in the case of five migrants deported to Ghana last week showed how earlier Supreme Court rulings have paved the way for President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Judge Tanya S. Chutkan scolded the Trump administration for allowing Ghanaian officials to violate protective orders by U.S. immigration judges, though she also appeared to suggest she had little power to compel the government to return them.
Plaintiffs accused the Trump administration of using so-called third-country deportations to violate court-ordered protections for migrants, echoing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
A court had ruled that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia could not be sent back to his homeland, but now the administration sees a loophole. On Friday, Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers were told that he would be sent to the small African nation of Eswatini.
The request came after President Trump and several of his top aides had attacked Mr. Abrego Garcia as a threat, even though federal judges have ruled that he is not a danger to the public.
The request is another possible path for the Salvadoran man, who has already been deported and returned by the Trump administration, to remain in the country.
The judge used the ruling to take President Trump and some of his top aides to task for having repeatedly attacked other judges who have dared to rule against the White House.
A judge in Maryland barred the Trump administration from immediately deporting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia until he had a chance to challenge the move.
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