A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated an order he issued last month barring officials from deporting people to countries they are not from without first giving them an adequate chance to object to their removal.

The decision from Judge Brian E. Murphy came after a hearing in Boston to consider an emergency motion filed by lawyers on behalf of a group of men who they said were being deported and sent to South Sudan.

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When the hearing began, officials from the Department of Homeland Security said eight immigrants were deported Tuesday on a flight. The officials did not say which country the men were being sent to.

Murphy said the government gave the deported men just over 24 hours’ notice that they were being removed from the country. He called the time frame “plainly insufficient.” 

“The department’s actions in this case are unquestionably violative of this court’s order,” he said.

The Trump administration slammed Murphy as an “activist judge” after the hearing, accusing him of trying to protect “criminal illegal immigrant monsters.”

“A local judge in Massachusetts is trying to force the United States to bring back these uniquely barbaric monsters who present a clear and present threat to the safety of the American people and American victims,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “While we are fully compliant with the law and court orders, it is absolutely absurd for a district judge to try and dictate the foreign policy and national security of the United States of America.”

McLaughlin and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in the statement that the immigrants were “public safety threats” that other countries didn’t want to accept custody of.

Documents from DHS indicated that the eight men were citizens of Cuba, Laos, Mexico, South Sudan, Burma, and Vietnam. They have been found guilty of offenses such as murder, sexual assault, and robbery.

Much of the hearing is under seal, but according to a New York Times report, the plane with the deported men landed in the East African country of Djibouti. U.S. military personnel in Djibouti were reportedly there to assist with securing the detainees if needed.

Murphy asked DHS officials to quickly determine whether it is possible to have hearings for the men overseas. 

The Boston judge asked for a list of names of those who took part in the deportation operation so he could notify them if they face criminal contempt penalties. It is unclear what punishment government officials may face for defying his court order.

JUDGE RULES US MUST RETAIN CUSTODY OF MIGRANTS SENT TO SOUTH SUDAN AFTER TWO MEN DEPORTED THERE

In a similar situation, District Court for the District of Columbia Judge James E. Boasberg opened an inquiry into whether Trump officials violated his order calling for a flight of immigrants to El Salvador to turn back. That inquiry is temporarily on hold as the appeals court is considering a request by the Justice Department to end it. 

Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling emphasizing the lack of due process immigrants have received in a case involving the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely invoked 18th-century wartime law.