U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump administration to deport immigrants to "third countries"

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday lifted limits on the Trump administration's deportation of immigrants to "third countries."

The conservative-dominated Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling came in a legal dispute over the Trump administration's efforts to swiftly deport immigrants to countries other than their own.

The three liberal justices on the court all dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor warning that "In matters of life and death, it is best to proceed with caution. In this case, the Government took the opposite approach."

The Trump administration applauded the Supreme Court's decision. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), noted in a statement that the ruling is "a victory for the safety and security of the American people."

"DHS can now execute its lawful authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them," she added, saying: "Fire up the deportation planes."

In a ruling on April 18, Boston-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, an appointee of former U.S. President Joe Biden, barred officials from deporting people to countries other than their own without first giving them sufficient time to object.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court last month to pause Murphy's injunction. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, who represents the federal government in Supreme Court cases, accused the district court of stalling the Trump administration's efforts to deport "some of the worst of the worst illegal aliens."