Homeland Security Defies Orders, Engages In More Human Trafficking

Legal Issues

from the non-stop-bad-shit dept

Eight men were put on a plane from Texas, bound for South Sudan — a country the State Department warns Americans not to travel to because of “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.” None of these men were from South Sudan. The Trump administration shipped them there anyway, in direct violation of a federal court order.

This week, lawyers filed an emergency motion revealing that Kristi Noem’s Homeland Security was simply ignoring court orders and trafficking people to dangerous third countries they have no connection to. When a federal judge stepped in to stop the plane, the government’s response was basically: “but they’re criminals, so due process doesn’t matter.”

Plaintiffs seek an emergency order enjoining Defendants from effectuating the removal of class members N.M. and T.T.P., and any other class member, to South Sudan because, prior to making them board a plane for removal to that country, Defendants failed to comply with this Court’s Preliminary Injunction (PI), Dkts. 64, 86, 91. Specifically, with respect to class member N.M., Defendants failed to provide an opportunity for him to apply for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) as to South Sudan. On information and belief, class member T.T.P. was denied the same opportunity. Although it should not be necessary, in light of Defendants’ continued intransigence, see Dkt. 89, Plaintiffs seek also an emergency order reaffirming that Defendants may not remove N.M., T.T.P., or any other class member to a third country unless they comply with this Court’s PI.

The plane made it as far as Djibouti — after a stop in Ireland — before Judge Brian Murphy stepped in and ordered the government to keep these men in US custody while he figured out what the hell was going on.

Here’s the core legal issue: before shipping people off to third countries, the government is required to give them “reasonable fear screenings” — basically, a chance to explain why they might face torture or persecution if sent to that specific country. It’s a basic due process requirement that Homeland Security just… ignored. They skipped the screening and put people on a plane to a country the State Department says is too dangerous for Americans to visit.

That’s why they’re currently stuck in Djibouti — the DOJ promised to keep them in US custody while the judge sorts this out. And Judge Murphy was not happy about having to deal with this at all. The Justice Department has also been arguing in this very case, though over different plaintiffs, that once they get people out of the country, courts lose all jurisdiction — a position that contradicts the Supreme Court from just earlier this year.

At the emergency hearing, Murphy made it clear that the government was blatantly defying his orders:

A federal judge in Boston said on Wednesday that the Trump administration had violated an order he issued last month barring officials from deporting people to countries not their own without first giving them sufficient time to object.

The finding by the judge, Brian E. Murphy, was one of the strongest judicial rebukes the administration has faced so far in a series of contentious cases arising from its sprawling deportation agenda.

In his written order, Judge Murphy was even more blunt about what had happened. The government tried to argue that the court’s earlier order about giving people a “meaningful opportunity” to object was somehow ambiguous. Murphy wasn’t buying it:

Defendants maintain that ambiguity in the phrase “meaningful opportunity” precipitated this controversy. Indeed, when the Court issued the Preliminary Injunction, it declined to elaborate on what constitutes a “meaningful opportunity,” preferring instead to let experience show through hard cases the finer points of what is required under the Due Process Clause.

To be clear, this is not one of those hard cases. Giving every credit to Defendants’ account, the non-citizens at issue had fewer than 24 hours’ notice, and zero business hours’ notice, before being put on a plane and sent to a country as to which the U.S. Department of State issues the following warning: “Do not travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.” …. As detailed on the record during today’s hearing, further facts regarding the unavailability of information, the hurried and confused notice that the individuals received, language barriers, and attorney access compound and confirm this Court’s finding that no reasonable interpretation of the Court’s Preliminary Injunction could endorse yesterday’s events.

In other words: you can’t claim confusion about due process when you’re giving people less than a day’s notice before shipping them to a war zone.

Murphy then did what pissed-off federal judges do: he ordered the DOJ to explain “under the pains and penalties of perjury” how they fucked up so badly. He specifically wanted to know why one person — N.M. — was being sent to South Sudan instead of his actual home country of Myanmar.

And here’s where things get revealing. When the DOJ filed their response, they completely ignored the judge’s actual question. Instead of explaining why someone from Myanmar was being sent to South Sudan, they just listed everyone’s criminal records — sexual assault, arson, drug trafficking. Classic authoritarian deflection: wave around criminal records and hope people forget that due process still applies to people with criminal convictions.

For N.M. specifically, they spent four paragraphs on his attempted sexual assault conviction but didn’t even mention why he was headed to South Sudan instead of Myanmar.

Then, after missing the court’s deadline, they filed another declaration with a half-assed explanation: Myanmar “has historically been recalcitrant” about taking people back. But here’s the kicker — once N.M. got a lawyer, they suddenly decided he should go to Myanmar after all. So why the hell was he on a plane to South Sudan?

Upon further investigation after contact from [REDACTED] counsel, it was realized that [REDACTED] was in fact in possession of a travel document to Burma. Thereafter, it was decided that he would instead be removed to Burma.

The DOJ’s own filing reveals the absurdity: they only “realized” N.M. had proper travel documents to Myanmar after his lawyer called them. Which raises the obvious question: why the fuck was he on a plane to South Sudan if they hadn’t even checked whether he could go to his home country?

This case perfectly captures the Trump administration’s approach: when caught violating court orders and basic due process, just shout “but they’re criminals!” and hope everyone forgets that the law applies to everyone. It doesn’t matter if these people have rap sheets longer than a CVS receipt. Having a criminal conviction doesn’t strip you of your constitutional rights or give the government permission to ship you to whatever dangerous country is convenient.

Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and Donald Trump might think that declaring someone “bad” gives them a free pass to ignore due process, but federal judges disagree. Judge Murphy has already suggested he may pursue criminal contempt charges against government officials for this stunt.

And that’s exactly what should happen. When government officials openly defy court orders and ship people to war zones without basic due process protections, the only appropriate response is to hold them criminally accountable. Otherwise, what’s to stop them from doing it again tomorrow?

Indeed, just as all this was going down, Noem was posting on her ExTwitter account “Suck it” in response to a court dismissing a different case regarding renditioning people to Guantanamo, specifically highlighting that the ACLU was among the lawyers trying to give these people due process. The case was dismissed because many of the plaintiffs had already been sent to Gitmo, making it “moot.”

She’s openly celebrating this kind of lawless human trafficking. Courts need to step up their game to stop it.

Filed Under: brian murphy, dhs, human trafficking, kristi noem, south sudan