A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue deporting illegal immigrants to third countries, temporarily blocking a lower court’s order that found the policy unlawful.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an administrative stay of a Feb. 25 order that had blocked the policy, which was due to go into effect on Thursday. The panel of two judges appointed by former President Joe Biden and one judge appointed by former President George W. Bush did not elaborate on their reasoning beyond suggesting that “after careful review,” the temporary pause on the district court’s ruling was necessary, adding that they intend to issue a full ruling on lifting the lower court’s block soon.
The ruling means the Trump administration may continue to deport illegal immigrants to countries other than their country of origin, keeping a key tool for deportation in its arsenal.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee, said in his ruling last month that the policy was “not fine, nor is it legal,” and struck down the ruling, even after the Supreme Court had twice allowed the policy to continue in the interim. Murphy paused his latest attempt to block third-country deportations for 15 days to allow for the Justice Department to appeal.
The Supreme Court previously lifted Murphy’s preliminary injunction blocking the third-country deportation policy in June 2025, issuing a 6-3 unsigned order that did not elaborate on the rationale behind the majority’s decision. Shortly after the Supreme Court lifted the block, Murphy still tried to enforce another order that built off the one the justices lifted — this one blocking the deportation of eight criminal illegal immigrants to South Sudan. The high court quickly rebuked him in a 7-2 unsigned order.
BIDEN JUDGE STRIKES DOWN ‘THIRD COUNTRY’ DEPORTATIONS AFTER SUPREME COURT APPROVAL
Murphy’s Feb. 25 order was an attempt to issue a final ruling that superseded his preliminary injunction, but the case could still make its way to the Supreme Court once the appeals court issues its full ruling.
Wednesday’s order marks a rare win for the Trump administration at the First Circuit, after the circuit had denied efforts to lift high-profile blocks of various Trump policies in the president’s first year back in the White House. When the DOJ appealed those adverse First Circuit rulings to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, the majority on the high court ruled in the Trump administration’s favor each time in 2025.