The Trump administration will ask the Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court put into effect a ruling invalidating the government’s framework for rapid third-country deportations, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday.
The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Wednesday night dissolving a prior stay that had kept the lower court’s ruling on hold during the appeal. The action put into effect the court’s Friday merits decision, which found that the Department of Homeland Security could not deport immigrants to countries not named in their removal orders without first providing meaningful notice and an opportunity to raise fears of persecution or torture.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a news briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a news briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“Without even allowing the government a chance to respond, and in the dark of night, a federal appeals court blocked us from conducting all third-country removals of illegal aliens, an entirely legal and invaluable tool to stem the tide of illegal immigration,” Blanche wrote on social media Thursday morning. “We will immediately seek relief from the Supreme Court, which previously granted a stay in this very same case.”
The case, D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, is a major test of the administration’s authority to remove people with final deportation orders to nations other than their countries of origin, citizenship, or prior residence.
In its Friday opinion, a unanimous three-judge 1st Circuit panel largely upheld a February ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a nominee of former President Joe Biden, who set aside the DHS’s March and July 2025 third-country-removal guidance. The panel held that the government’s policy was unlawful because it allowed removals without effective notice and a meaningful opportunity to pursue protection claims.
“An individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination,” Judge Seth Aframe, another Biden nominee, wrote for the appeals court.
The decision did not hold that third-country deportations are categorically unlawful. Instead, it rejected the DHS’s rapid-removal process. The panel also vacated one part of Murphy’s ruling that would have required the government to first seek removal to a migrant’s designated country or country of nationality, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring that claim.
The question of when the ruling became effective drove the latest clash. The Justice Department had argued that it could continue using the policy until the 1st Circuit issued its mandate — the formal step that returns jurisdiction to the lower court and puts an appellate ruling into effect.
That position surfaced in litigation over a Peruvian man identified in court records as John Doe. ICE sought to transfer Doe ahead of a planned removal to the Central African Republic, according to court filings. Doe had previously received Convention Against Torture protection from removal to Peru, making the proposed third-country removal especially consequential.
After lawyers for the D.V.D. class asked the 1st Circuit to intervene, the court dissolved the March stay. Its short order stated, “Consistent with this court’s September 18, 2026, Judgment, the March 16, 2026, stay pending appeal is dissolved.” Reuters reported that the administration had planned a Thursday flight from Virginia that could send migrants to Burundi, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic.
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The Supreme Court has already intervened twice in the dispute over Murphy’s preliminary injunction. It stayed the injunction in June last year while the 1st Circuit considered the case, and later cleared the way for eight men to be deported to South Sudan at the administration’s request.
Blanche said the administration will seek emergency relief again. Unless the Supreme Court pauses the 1st Circuit’s ruling, the DHS cannot resume removals under the policy the court invalidated. The administration had not filed its formal appeal to the high court as of early Thursday afternoon.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
