❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Joe Biden-appointed federal judge has overturned President Donald J. Trump’s policy of rapidly deporting illegal immigrants who cannot be returned directly to their homelands to third countries.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Trump.
📍WHEN & WHERE: February 25, 2026, in Boston, Massachusetts.
🎯IMPACT: The ruling is paused for 15 days to allow for an appeal, potentially affecting deportation processes.
A federal judge in Boston, Massachusetts, has declared that President Donald J. Trump’s policy of rapidly deporting illegal immigrants who cannot be directly returned to their homelands to third countries is unlawful. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, appointed by President Joe Biden, did consent to pause his ruling’s implementation for 15 days, allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) time to appeal.
The Supreme Court has previously intervened twice in this case, initially lifting a preliminary injunction in favor of illegal immigrants facing deportation, and later permitting the deportation of eight men to South Sudan. Murphy was “benchslapped” at one point for having “failed to give effect” to a Supreme Court order concerning the case.
The Department of Homeland Security’s policy is to allow deportations to countries not initially named in removal orders, provided there are diplomatic assurances against persecution or torture. Illegal immigrants fighting attempts to send them home could be notified as little as six hours before deportation to another country.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) contends that the policy meets legal requirements and was necessary for deporting “worst of the worst” whose home countries refused to take them back due to their criminal activities.
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