The Trump administration late Friday filed two court documents after a judge said a deportation flight violated his previous injunction that allows deportees time to challenge an order to be sent to a country other than their own. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rubio said in his filing that the court’s orders had "already interfered with quiet diplomatic efforts and exacerbated internal political and security divisions" in Libya.
The order also threatens to "derail efforts to quietly rebuild a productive working relationship with Juba," the capital of South Sudan, he said.
Rubio said before the court’s intervention that the South Sudan government had refused to accept a South Sudanese national but had since "taken steps to work more cooperatively with the U.S. government."
DHS EXPOSES CRIMES BY MIGRANTS DEPORTED TO SOUTH SUDAN AS JUDGE THREATENS TO ORDER THEIR RETURN
Thirdly, Rubio said the order "causes harm" in Djibouti, which is "strategically located in the Horn of Africa" with the only U.S. military base on the African continent.
The deportees are being temporarily held at a U.S. Naval base in Djibouti.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that a court order requiring the U.S. government to maintain custody of deportees on a flight meant for South Sudan will cause "significant and irreparable harm to U.S. foreign policy." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The flight left from Texas earlier this week with eight migrants from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico and South Sudan.
Murphy issued the ruling Tuesday night after lawyers for the immigrants from Myanmar and Vietnam accused the Trump administration of illegally deporting their clients to third-party countries. They argue there is a court order blocking such removals.
Murphy's ruling said the government must "maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful."
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Rubio announced in April that the U.S. would revoke visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and no others would be issued, attributing the change to "the failure of South Sudan's transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner," according to a statement posted on X at the time.
The U.S. has third-party deportation agreements with a handful of countries, the most prominent being El Salvador, which has accepted hundreds of Venezuelan deportees from the Trump administration.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rubio-warns-court-order-blocking-deportations-south-sudan-causes-irreparable-harm-foreign-policy