As if the case couldn't get any stranger, D.V.D v. DHS — regarding the (attempted) removal of criminal illegal aliens to a third country (here, South Sudan) — hit another record-scratch moment on the Fourth of July. D.C. District Court Judge Randolph Moss issued an administrative stay in a related case (Phan v. DHS), effectively halting the transport of several aliens from Djibouti to South Sudan yet again. He then, after an emergency hearing, transferred the case to the Massachusetts District Court, where Judge Brian Murphy has been presiding over the D.V.D. case.
This comes after the Supreme Court, on Thursday, issued an order clarifying its prior order (which stayed Murphy's preliminary injunction) and let Murphy know that when they said his injunction was stayed, that meant any derivative orders enforcing the injunction were also stayed. The net effect of this was to clear the way for the Trump administration to complete the transfer of the aliens to South Sudan from Djibouti, where they'd been stuck in a holding pattern since May 21.
A federal judge on Friday briefly halted deportations of eight immigrants to war-torn South Sudan, sending the case to another judge, in Boston, the day after the Supreme Court greenlighted their removal.
District Judge Randolph Moss sent the case north from Washington after an extraordinary Fourth of July hearing on Friday afternoon. He concluded that the judge best equipped to deal with the issues was Brian Murphy, the one whose rulings led to the initial halt of the Trump administration’s effort to begin deportations to the eastern African country.
He extended his order halting the deportation until 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, but it was unclear whether Murphy would act on the federal holiday to further limit the removal. Moss said new claims by the immigrants’ lawyers deserved a hearing.
There's a more detailed rundown of the chronology of the case in the article I wrote Thursday regarding the Supreme Court's ruling:
Basically, what happened is that after the Supreme Court ruling, attorneys for the aliens filed a habeas case in D.C., insisting that the effort to deport the men to South Sudan was punitive and unconstitutional. Moss issued an administrative stay and set an emergency hearing on the matter.
Margot Cleveland provided a rundown of the hearing on X:
(Note: Where she mentions "Maryland" early on, she means Massachusetts.)
Where things stand at present: Moss has ordered the case transferred to Massachusetts. His administrative stay expired at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. It has now landed there, but the court has not yet taken action. Per DOJ attorneys at the hearing, the flight was scheduled to depart for South Sudan at 7:00 PM this evening (so in about one hour).
Whether the Massachusetts court will attempt to take further action to halt the transfer of the aliens to Djibouti remains to be seen. We'll provide updates as warranted.
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