US says South Sudan is not final destination for deportation flight

The Department of Homeland Security has criticised a federal judge a day after he ordered US officials to keep custody of migrants who are said in a court filing to have been flown on a deportation flight to South Sudan.

The agency said it was seeking to deport eight “uniquely barbaric monsters” who had all been convicted of crimes including murder, rape and kidnapping.

But agency spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told reporters South Sudan was not the migrants’ final destination.

Judge Brian Murphy said on Tuesday the government could be held in contempt for appearing to defy his order requiring migrants to be allowed to challenge their deportation to third countries.

Ms McLaughlin told a briefing on Wednesday: “Every single one of them was convicted of a heinous crime, murder, rape, child rape, rape of a mentally and physically handicapped victim.”

She said it was “absurd for a US judge to try to dictate the foreign policy and national security of US”.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said: “If we don’t have a country that’ll take their citizens back, we do have an option to find a safe third country.”

They did not specify where the migrants might ultimately be bound.

Judge Murphy issued a ruling on 18 April requiring that illegal migrants have a “meaningful opportunity” to challenge their removal to countries other than their homelands.

On Wednesday afternoon, he is scheduled to hold another hearing in the case, as immigration attorneys seek an emergency order to prevent the removals.

In a hearing on Tuesday, the judge did not order the plane to head back to the US, but said the migrants must remain in the government’s custody and be “treated humanely”.

Several countries have been asked by the Trump administration to accept migrant deportations.

Rwanda confirmed it was in such talks with the US, while Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Moldova have all been named in media reports.