Migrants deported from U.S. to South Sudan held in Djibouti, in a U.S. military base

Anwen Hughes, an attorney with Human Rights First and Trina Realmuto, Executive Director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, speak with reporters outside the federal courthouse, after a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated his court order by attempting to deport migrants to South Sudan, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., May 21, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A group of migrants deported from the United States towards conflict-torn South Sudan will be held for now in Djibouti after a court ruling, the Trump administration lamented on Thursday (May 22, 2025).

The U.S. government claims it expelled the eight migrants from a range of nations due to their past convictions for violent crimes.

The migrants left the United States on a flight on Tuesday bound for South Sudan instead of their nations of origin, after Washington failed to obtain approval from their respective governments to take them back.

They are currently detained by the Department of Homeland Security in Djibouti, where there is a major U.S. military base.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston ruled on Wednesday evening that the Trump administration had violated one of his previous orders, calling the timeframe given for the migrants to contest their expulsions to South Sudan “plainly insufficient.”

South Sudan, an impoverished nation which has long grappled with insecurity and political instability, has an advisory against travel from the U.S. State Department.

In his ruling, Murphy said that migrants had to receive greater notice and at least ten days to appeal the decision, as required by the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

He also ruled that six of the migrants were entitled to invoke, with the aid of a lawyer, their “fear” of torture or ill-treatment in the third country.

And if the Department of Homeland Security deemed the fear unfounded, it still needed to grant at least 15 days to appeal the expulsion procedure.

Mr. Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Thursday to decry Murphy’s order, saying he “has ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan, and instead remain in Djibouti.”

“He would not allow these monsters to proceed to their final destination,” he continued, claiming that the courts are “absolutely out of control.”

The White House identified the eight men as two citizens of Myanmar, two Cubans, a Vietnamese man, a Laotian, a Mexican and a South Sudanese citizen.

While the government said those scheduled for expulsion had ample warning, lawyers for the Vietnamese national and one citizen of Myanmar said in court filings that their clients only learned the night before or on Tuesday, when the flight left.

For their part, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that South Sudan was not the “final destination” for the migrants.