NYT: Immigrants returned home despite U.S. court protections

newsNov 9, 2026292,069

The New York Times reported that more than 110 noncitizens who had court-ordered protections were handed by U.S. officials to foreign partners and then sent back to countries where U.S. courts found they faced risks of torture, sexual abuse or persecution. The investigation says the practice involved coordination with the Trump administration and relied on third countries to accept removals the United States itself could not carry out without violating courts’ orders. Advocates and litigators described the transfers as effectively circumventing judicial protections; Alma David of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance said the practice undermines the idea of asylum. In response to similar patterns, judges including Colorado’s Nina Wang have started issuing extremely detailed orders about what the government must document and do when releasing habeas petitioners, and lawyers report filing dozens of habeas petitions to enforce release orders. Demonstrations and new court filings are already under way in multiple jurisdictions, and civil-rights groups have publicly accused administration officials of rushing to violate court orders in specific removal operations.

Rachel Maddow

@maddow.bsky.social

just in time for the start of the christmas season, trump targets 14 year old kids in foster care: www.masslive.com/news/2026/11...

9533d ago

Michele Dotson 🇺🇸🫶🏾⚖️🗳📬🇺🇦✌🏾🦾24

But Adam Serwer — @adamserwer.bsky.social warned us in 2018: “The cruelty is the point.” It ALWAYS has been. It’s time WE act like WE know who HE is. We’ve been here before. Trump was, is, and remains a dangerous conman SOURCE: @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Resister Puppies are still Resisting 58 years later. 🐶18

There is no bottom to their bottom of evil.

Mark Tolstoy14

Number one priority for the new Congress has to be immediately stopping the trafficking of shackled people to some random unfamiliar country and dropping them off with nothing more than thier clothes and a small bag of personal items. This is not who we are and needs to stop now.

experimental22.bsky.social12

When one has been targeting 14 years old their entire life.

Scott Craig10

Refugee kids have heartbeats. Use that one, too.

Poppy in PDX9

What a horrible thing to do. JFC

Quoting this

@GottaLaff28

Trump told '60 Minutes' that mass deportation was 'too tough' and 'I think, ultimately, that hurt me.' He made Miller his chief of staff. Now this:

Rima I Anabtawi9

““This administration seems to be targeting the unaccompanied youth as a whole.””

Sylvia Greier3

Deporting 14yr olds from the usa is a dispicable act with life long trauma. Which one will grow up, + come back seeking revenge? #Blues

redword8.bsky.social3

Trump to share jail cell with Russell Brand.

Silvija (still) stands with Ukraine2

Trump always proves he can always be more despicable.

Be4Dawn2

We need to raise voices for these children! He isn’t going to stop the horribleness he is still an inhuman human.

voteinthemidterms.bsky.social2

TRUMP IS NOW ATTACKING 14 YR OLD KIDS

debbiefr.bsky.social2

Said it before: Remember when he said *Biden* was going to take away Christmas from everyone? It. Was. A. Projection.

Roger Parloff

@rparloff.bsky.social

. @nytimes.com finds same thing 60 Minutes did. Noncitizens are being systematically returned home despite immigration judges' orders that they'll face persecution or torture there. www.nytimes.com/2026/11/09/w...

3984d ago

Polly Dogood4

Among the grievances of 1776: "transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences." Here a judge heard the case, found the danger real, and still they are sent. The Fifth Amendment says "person." It has no clause for "inconvenient."

takethepith.bsky.social2

Is "home" the accurate word there?

In These Shoes?2

“nytimes.com finds same thing 60 Minutes did. Noncitizens are being systematically returned home” BECAUSE OF “immigration judges' orders that they'll face persecution or torture there” Fixed it for you, NYT.

Dean Booth 🦆🐇1

Using "returned home" puts your thumb on the scale, especially if they came here as a kid.

themedici.bsky.social1

The courts may not be able to do much to enforce their orders, but violating those orders is certainly impeachable!

sp-fxx.bsky.social1

Psychopath Stephen Miller will live in infamy for his tens of thousands of crimes against humanity.

Quoting this

Gillian Brockell530

I have been reporting this since I first published the Third-Country Removal Tracker on October 2 of last year, when there were two dozen such removal flights. Now there have been 160+. The vast majority of these people have been refouled within hours or days. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...

Dominic Machado

@dominicmachado.bsky.social

An absolute travesty ongoing throughout the country that should get much more national attention. The rapid and forceful deportation of unaccompanied minors in foster care with protected status: www.masslive.com/news/2026/11...

1345d ago

Naomi Jane Gray

@shadesofgraylaw.bsky.social

This sounds to me like a deliberate abdication of responsibility to ensure people are held (and possibly deported) despite court orders that they be released. It will gum up the works and make it harder to get people out.

1353d ago

threesigma.bsky.social51

I would have thought that the next move would be to inform the local police that the individual has been kidnapped and is being held illegally against their will. But maybe that's naive?

sharrowhater.bsky.social1

Directly send the court order to the detention facility or deputize local LEO's to do it? Have the chief judge reach out to Governor Ferguson and have state police become a conduit?

Pete Del Re1

Thanks for the response!.... regardless of how depressing and frustrating as this reality is.

Daniel Sharp

@deeesharp.bsky.social

There is no rule of law as long as immigration enforcement remains lawless. www.nytimes.com/2026/11/09/w...

1034d ago

Cengiz Yar

@cengizyar.com

"The Times identified more than 110 people who had court-ordered protections and were handed over to foreign governments, only to then be passed on to home countries where they risked torture, sexual abuse or persecution — risks that have been validated by American courts."

804d ago

Dara Lind

@daralind.bsky.social

Very grateful for this piece. This administration sees international refugee law as something to be gamed. www.nytimes.com/2026/11/09/w...

444d ago

baldandersson.bsky.social4

Boy, the NYT sure does love euphemism and passive sentence construction to soften culpability! Try: The Trump Administration is Systematically Deporting Immigrants Despite Court Orders.

Quoting this

Jane123

what the fuck is this "returned home" bullshit? just say deported.

Celeste Headlee10

RL Abramson

@heybramson.bsky.social

Having filed ~50 habeas petitions, might I propose a crazy alternative: Maybe their clients could stop trampling on folks’ constitutional rights so we wouldn’t have to sue them so often (not to mention going back to enforce habeas orders when the immigration court compounds the DP violations) …

533d ago

Jude Nagurney Camwell (Iddybud)

@iddybud.bsky.social

Not one of the good guys, if there are any left at DOJ.. ➡️ Shumate has represented the Trump administration in numerous high profile cases, including its deportation flights of over 130 men to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador against court orders. www.yahoo.com/news/politic...

284d ago

Adam Sawyer

@adamjst.bsky.social

Admin officials publicly deny the accusations of refoulement and try to wash their hands of responsibility for anything that might happen to a person after conducting a removal...

The Office of Remigration
Trump administration officials have denied that any of this amounts to refoulement. But they have also left ambiguous what is supposed to happen to immigrants once they arrive in third countries.

Mr. Rubio has described U.S. partners as being willing to “share the burden” of illegal immigration. Mr. Miller said last year that America’s partners “have very graciously agreed to help resettle nationals from other countries.”

Officials seldom address questions about people who are repatriated despite court orders, other than to say that what happens once immigrants are deported is not their responsibility. The United States has sought more partners and to expand the deportation program.

124d ago

Blue Dot in Red State

@bluedotin.bsky.social

(NYT) The brutal and hateful regime of the Trump administration re: their approach to deporting people regardless of Court orders. Time to throw someone in the administration in jail. www.nytimes.com/2026/11/09/w...

144d ago

Abuse of Power Watch

@abuseofpowerwatch.bsky.social

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: The Trump administration has sent immigrants with court-ordered protections to third countries. A NYT investigation found that more than 110 immigrants were sent to third countries and then returned to places where they faced risks of torture, persecution or abuse. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

103d ago

Andrew Rothstein

@asrothstein.bsky.social

Last sentence is key and was my first thought. One of the biggest issues with ICE and DHS has been a refusal to comply with court orders in a timely fashion (if at all). This creates a break in the normal chain of operations.

213d ago

Colorado Times Recorder

@coloradotimesrecorder.com

About 50 demonstrators gathered in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Denver this morning, spotlighting a hearing about an emerging pattern of ICE agents releasing detainees in response to a court order — and then re-arresting them shortly after they emerge from an ICE jail.

63d ago

New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)

@thenyic.bsky.social

Immigrant NYers deserve to live without fear of being detained. DHS is continuing to construct a new ICE detention Center in Roxbury, N.J., despite court orders restricting activity at the site. We must call for an end to ALL detention centers #AbolishICE www.tapinto.net/towns/roxbur...

93d ago

1 source

nytimes.comImmigrants Are Being Systematically Returned Home Despite Court Orders (Gift Article)

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NYT: Immigrants returned home despite U.S. court protections

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