A US federal appeals court on Friday rejected a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to restart a controversial deportation policy that would send migrants to countries where they have no prior ties, including countries like Libya and El Salvador.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the motion by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lift a nationwide preliminary injunction issued last month, which bars immigration officials from deporting individuals to unfamiliar third countries without first allowing them to raise fears of persecution, torture, or other serious harm.

The three-judge panel said the government had failed to meet the high bar for extraordinary relief under the Supreme Court’s standard in Nken v. Holder. In their May 16 order, the judges emphasized “concerns regarding the continuing application of the Department of Homeland Security’s March 30 Guidance Regarding Third Country Removals” and underscored “the irreparable harm that will result from wrongful removals in this context.”

The court took issue with the government’s timing, noting that officials had filed only a “provisional” motion three days before US District Judge Brian Murphy’s April 18 injunction took effect. The panel also questioned the legality of recent removals involving military transport and directed the parties to address a series of unresolved legal issues in their upcoming briefs, including whether migrants have a right to meaningful judicial review before being sent to countries not identified in their original immigration proceedings.

The case centers on DHS’s revived effort to deport certain non-citizens not to their home countries, but to so-called third countries—nations where they may never have lived or even visited. The new guidance instructed immigration officers to identify such countries as potential removal destinations for individuals who had previously been granted protection from deportation. That prompted a lawsuit from immigrant rights groups, who argue the policy violates the guarantee of due process under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

US District Court Judge Brian Murphy sided with the plaintiffs in April, requiring that affected migrants be given written notice of their intended destination and a meaningful opportunity to object. In the weeks since, he has expanded the order in response to reports that the Defense Department had flown four Venezuelans held at Guantánamo Bay to El Salvador—potentially in violation of the court’s earlier ruling.