On Friday, a federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration from deporting people to countries other than their own if they have no legal options left. The judge ruled that these individuals must first be given a chance to argue that such deportation could put their safety at risk. 

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy ruled that individuals facing deportation must have a fair chance to prove that being sent to a third country could put them in serious danger. His order will stay in place until the case moves forward to the next stage of arguments. The decision is a setback for the administration, which has been sending people to countries like Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador when deporting them to their home countries is difficult. Sometimes, if a judge rules that a person’s home country is too dangerous, authorities may send them to a different country instead.

The Homeland Security Department has not yet responded to a request for comment. However, government lawyers argued that temporarily stopping this process would disrupt immigration enforcement. Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, supported advocacy groups like the National Immigration Litigation Alliance. This group filed a lawsuit on Sunday in Boston on behalf of individuals who had already been sent to other countries or were afraid they might be transferred soon. A Guatemalan man, referred to only by his initials in court documents, was sent to Mexico, despite previously being raped there. A U.S. immigration judge ruled that returning to Guatemala would be unsafe for him. However, he was not given the opportunity to challenge his transfer to Mexico. Now, he is in hiding in Guatemala.

An immigration judge ruled that one of the plaintiffs cannot be sent back to Honduras. However, she is still worried that she might be sent to another country when she goes for her mandatory check-in next week at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas.