Cnn
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The Trump administration “undoubtedly” violated a court order when she tried to transfer prisoners to South Sudan torn apart by the war without a significant opportunity to challenge their dismissal in a place where they could face torture, a federal judge said on Wednesday.
Eight detainees of various nationalities were placed on a flight Tuesday, judge, Brian Murphy of the Massachusetts district, said at a hearing. Lawyers representing the detainees said it was intended for South Sudan.
“It was impossible for these people to have a significant opportunity to oppose their transfer to South Sudan,” said Murphy, citing the truncated calendar and the fact that a large part of what happened after working hours, when the prisoners could not reach lawyers or their families.
The “actions of the ministry in this case were undoubtedly in violation of the ordinance of this court,” said Murphy.
The 5 p.m. window that the detainees had before being placed on the plane on Tuesday was “clearly” and “undeniably” insufficient, added the judge.
Internal security officials have not shared where the flight has been since he took off. During the hearing, an official of the application of the immigration and customs forces told the judge that the detainees were currently “seated on a plane”.
Later on Wednesday, Murphy declared in a two -page prescription that administration officials had to give the migrants of the plane a “reasonable fear interview”, the first step towards the increase in a claim based on fear against deportation elsewhere than their country of origin. This interview, he said, could also be carried out in the United States if officials decided to bring the migrants back.
Whatever the place of the interview, said Murphy, officials must give migrants “no less than 72 hours of the scheduled time” of their interview. The migrants who did not prove to have a “reasonable fear” would then obtain 15 days to try to reopen their immigration cases so that they can contest their referral to a third country, said the judge in his order.
“During this 15-day period, the individual must remain in the custody or control of the DHS, and must have access to a lawyer who is proportionate to access, he would be given if they were trying to move to reopen inside the borders of the United States,” wrote Murphy.
DHS officials did not confirm the destination of the flight at a press conference earlier on Wednesday. However, immigration and customs application displayed a live online flow of the press conference, by qualifying it: “DHS press conference on the flight migrating to South Sudan”.
Murphy said during the hearing on Wednesday that he could consider holding administration officials in criminal outrage for raped his previous order. The judge also examines whether the administration officials distorted the facts in court, in the case of at least one of the migrants, a potentially very serious accusation.
During its press conference, the DHS distributed a list of eight people with judicial lockers who were in flight, including migrants from Cuba, Laos and Mexico. The list also included two men, one from Vietnam and one from Myanmar, which are part of the dispute.
Officials added that detainees were still undergoing the US government custody, according to the judge’s previous ordinance. “Due to security and operational security, we cannot tell you what the final destination of these people will be,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. “A local Massachusetts judge is trying to force the United States to bring these barbaric monsters only,” she said.
Murphy previously told the Trump administration that they had prevented prisoners from countries that were not theirs until they were provided and an opportunity to challenge their withdrawal.
Murphy did not, however, specify how the Ministry of Internal Security should have given detainees a significant way to challenge the expulsion, because it had not wanted to “inject me into the daily operations of the department”, he said on Wednesday.
The administration argued that they had given a regular procedure to the prisoners and that the court should remain outside their aggressive immigration efforts.
“We believe that individuals had an opportunity,” a lawyer for the Ministry of Justice said on Wednesday.
“They could not have called their lawyers if they wanted it,” replied Murphy.
This story has been updated with additional details.