On Sept. 18 a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston ruled unanimously that deporting migrants to “third countries” where the migrant is not a citizen, has no family ties, and may not even speak the language, is unlawful. The court rejected arguments from the Trump administration that it had received “assurances” from foreign governments that deportees would not be persecuted or tortured.

The third-country deportation policy has been challenged in court since March 2025, but in June 2025 the Supreme Court temporarily allowed the deportations to continue until a legal ruling could be made. The Department of Homeland Security has already sent over 25,000 migrants to third countries, according to The Washington Post. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, but for now these deportation flights are legally grounded.