The Trump administration scored another legal victory Monday after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court order that had blocked a key immigration enforcement policy. The ruling allows the Department of Homeland Security to continue deporting migrants to third countries while the case moves forward through the courts.
The decision came from a three judge panel on the Boston based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which voted 2 to 1 to pause a February ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy. That ruling had declared the Trump administration’s policy unlawful and temporarily stopped its implementation.
New legal victory: the First Circuit just ruled that the Trump Administration can CONTINUE deporting illegal aliens to third countries.
There is more work ahead on this important issue, but this is a key win for @POTUS’s immigration agenda.@thejusticedept attorneys will…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) March 16, 2026
Murphy’s order targeted a policy adopted in March 2025 as part of President Trump’s broader immigration crackdown. The rule allows federal immigration authorities to deport migrants to countries other than their country of origin if another nation is willing to accept them.
Under the policy, migrants can be deported to these third countries with relatively short notice. Immigration officials may provide as little as six hours warning before carrying out the removal, provided they believe the receiving country has offered credible diplomatic assurances that the migrant will not face persecution or torture.
Judge Murphy argued the policy failed to adequately protect migrants’ due process rights. In his ruling, he warned that migrants could end up being deported to unfamiliar countries without meaningful notice or a chance to challenge the decision in court.
The Trump administration strongly disagreed with that conclusion. Justice Department attorneys argued Murphy’s ruling would severely undermine the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws and remove people who are in the country illegally.
In court filings, administration lawyers described the lower court decision as “fatally flawed.” They also signaled that if the appeals court refused to intervene, they were prepared to take the matter back to the Supreme Court.
That was not an idle threat. The Supreme Court has already been involved in this dispute once before. Earlier in the case, the justices lifted a separate preliminary injunction issued by Murphy that had temporarily protected migrants from being deported to third countries.
Following that Supreme Court intervention, the government was able to deport eight migrants to South Sudan.
“The district court’s order creates an unworkable scheme that materially impairs the ability of the government to enforce the immigration laws,” Justice Department lawyers wrote while asking the appeals court to step in.
Monday’s decision was signed by Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey R. Howard, an appointee of President George W. Bush, and Circuit Judge Seth Aframe, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
The lone dissent came from Judge Lara Montecalvo, another Biden appointee, who argued the administration should not have been granted a pause while the appeal continues.
Despite the disagreement, the case is now moving quickly toward a more permanent ruling. The appeals court said it will hear oral arguments after expedited briefing concludes in mid April.
For now, the ruling allows the Trump administration to keep implementing the deportation policy while the legal fight continues. That outcome gives federal immigration authorities room to continue removing migrants to cooperating countries rather than allowing deportation orders to stall indefinitely.
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