Judge Finds Trump Admin Violated Injunction With Deportation Flight to South Sudan, Orders Insane Remedy

Just when I think the federal judiciary can't possibly make a further mockery of itself, it manages to do just that. Don't get me wrong — there are still plenty of solid jurists out there, and we've seen some favorable (and proper) rulings in the multitude of cases involving the Trump administration. I expect to see more. I also don't expect the administration to win every case/issue. I'm not naive, and they're not perfect.

That said, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday really outdid himself with a pair of rulings issued in one of the many ongoing immigration/removal-related cases. Not only did he find that the Trump administration had violated his previously entered preliminary injunction, but the remedy he ordered for that was beyond ridiculous.

To set the stage, I'll refer back to Ward Clark's reporting on the issue from Wednesday morning:

To begin at the beginning: On Tuesday, a federal district judge, Brian E. Murphy, ordered the Department of Homeland Security to maintain custody of any illegal aliens being deported to a third-party nation — that is, a nation that is neither the United States nor the home country of the persons in question. Of particular note were eight illegal aliens from Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, Myanmar, and other places. All have been convicted of serious crimes and were to be deported to detention in South Sudan. Deportation flights for these illegals have, for the moment, halted.
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Note that the eight men who are the specific subjects named here are not just illegal aliens. They have committed heinous crimes, far beyond just the fact of their illegal entry. These monsters have preyed on American citizens, and the Trump administration is correct to seek their removal, but in several of these cases, the criminals' home nation won't accept their return. South Sudan, granted, is an eyebrow-raising choice of destinations, but as of this writing, it's unclear if that was the final destination for these criminals.

So, to be clear, these were individuals convicted of vicious crimes who were already subject to removal. The only hang-up was that their own native countries didn't want them back. (Imagine that.)

As we were publishing that article, Judge Brian Murphy (more on him in a bit) was conducting a hearing on the case, after which he issued a couple of fairly astounding orders.

BREAKING: A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the Trump admin violated his order w/ its deportation flight intended for South Sudan & is ordering that the criminal aliens on the plane, which includes 5 convicted murderers, be given credible fear screenings & 15 days to… pic.twitter.com/MFSYre4nvV
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 22, 2025

First, he ruled that the administration had violated his prior injunction by sending the illegal alien criminals (who already had valid removal orders) to a third country (South Sudan) "by failing to provide six non-citizen class members a 'meaningful opportunity' to assert claims for protection under the Convention Against Torture before initiating removal to a third country."

Then, he ordered the following remedy for that violation:

Each of the six individuals must be given a reasonable fear interview in private, with the opportunity for the individual to have counsel of their choosing present during the interview, either in-person or remotely, at the individual’s choosing. Each individual must be afforded access to counsel that is commensurate with the access that they would have received had these procedures occurred within the United States prior to their deportation, including remote access where in-person access would otherwise be available. Each individual must also be afforded the name and telephone number of class counsel, as well as access to a phone, interpreter, and technology for the confidential transfer of documents that is commensurate with the access they would receive were they in DHS custody within United States borders.
Each individual, along with class counsel, must be given no fewer than 72-hours’ notice of the scheduled time for each reasonable fear interview. Should any individual raise a fear with respect to deportation to the third country that DHS determines falls short of “reasonable fear,” the individual must be provided meaningful opportunity, and a minimum of 15 days, to seek to move to reopen immigration proceedings to challenge the potential third-country removal. 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. Defendants must provide status reports every seven days as to all six individuals. Should any individual move to reopen, the parties must also immediately provide a status report, and continue providing status reports every seven days thereafter, on the status of the motion to reopen.

Margot Cleveland live-tweeted Wednesday's hearing and has a great summary of it here:

🧵that summarizes what is going on, the legal issues (in layman's terms), and what's next. This case, D.V.D. v. DHS began after Trump Administration announced/began removing individuals to third countries. Individuals in this case have ALL had due process & found removable. 1/ https://t.co/dW8Xi5Sc7Q
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 21, 2025

What's clear is that there are significant jurisdictional issues in play here and a judge who, like so many of his robed brethren, appears to have forgotten which lane is his. In fact, as Margot notes here, he entered additional text orders compelling the government to respond to news reports.

4/ And the micormanagement based on press reports keeps on coming: pic.twitter.com/joUJ9e9pUU
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) May 21, 2025

And he's tacked on a few more for good measure. Unsurprisingly, Murphy was a Biden appointee. Matt Vespa at our sister site, Townhall, has some added insight on Murphy's background.

Now the question is: What comes next? As of this writing, the administration has not filed a notice of appeal, but one suspects that's in the works and will be landing shortly. And on we go.

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