The US Supreme Court confirmed Thursday that the US government may proceed with the deportation of eight migrants to South Sudan. This order comes at a time when the US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for South Sudan due to high levels of armed conflict and violent crime.

On April 18, Judge Brian Murphy of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts preliminarily enjoined the government from removing “any alien” to a “country not explicitly provided for on the alien’s order of removal.” He required the government to follow the procedures allowing for relief under the Convention Against Torture before continuing.

On May 21, Judge Murphy issued an order on remedy for the six immigrants who had been denied possible relief. On June 23, the Supreme Court stayed the order from April 18, pending appeal. On the same day, Judge Murphy wrote that his order from May 21 remained in effect despite the Supreme Court’s order.

The Thursday decision confirmed that the Supreme Court’s June 23 decision applied to the original April 18 injunction “in full,” and the District Court’s subsequent order “cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting along with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote:

The United States may not deport noncitizens to a country where they are likely to be tortured or killed. International and domestic law guarantee that basic human right. In this case, the Government seeks to nullify it by deporting noncitizens to potentially dangerous countries without notice or the opportunity to assert a fear of torture… Because “‘the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law’ in the context of removal proceedings,” the Government’s no-notice removals are undoubtedly illegal.

Under 8 USC § 1231, removal of aliens to third-party countries is permissible when removal to a person’s home country, or place of departure to the US, is “impracticable, inadvisable, or impossible.”  This happens when the home country is unwilling to accept the alien.  The Convention Against Torture protects individuals from torture but does not specifically address third-party removals.