Immigration lawyers told a federal judge on Tuesday that they received information indicating the U.S. government may have put migrants from countries like Myanmar and Vietnam on a deportation flight to South Sudan, an eastern African nation plagued by conflict and political instability.
In an emergency filing to the federal district court in Massachusetts, the attorneys said the reported deportation flight to South Sudan would directly violate a ruling issued by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy that barred the Trump administration from deporting migrants to third countries without affording them certain due process rights.
The lawyers said any migrant deported to South Sudan “faces a strong likelihood of irreparable harm,” citing reports documenting widespread violence, human rights violations and conflict in the landlocked African country, the world’s youngest nation.
Per @jjindc on Bluesky tracking ADS-B data, a suspect Gulfstream 5 departed Harlingen, TX yesterday. At the time of the judge’s order it was in international airspace approaching Shannon, Ireland, for a likely fuel stop. Overnight, the plane left Ireland, and appears to be currently headed towards South Sudan after detouring across the Arabian peninsula.
The tail number is N588AT.
Update: the plane has now landed in South Sudan. The government states in court that it has “retained custody and control” of the passengers, following the court order yesterday.
Correction: it seems the plane landed in Djibouti, short of South Sudan.