United States · Immigration Law · Civil Rights
Can ICE deport you to a country you're not from? For now, the Supreme Court is letting it
If you have a final removal order, or a court has protected you from being sent to your home country, ICE can again send you to a third country under its 2025 policy. The Supreme Court paused the ruling that struck that policy down and will hear the case in December.
- Written by
Emily Chen- Published
- Order
- September 29, 2026
- Case
- DHS v. D.V.D., No. 26-426 (application 26A406)
At a glance
The practical result
- Court and vote
- U.S. Supreme Court; three justices (Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson) would have refused
- Outcome
- Boston judge's ruling paused; case set for December argument
- Law
- Federal removal law (8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)), due process and the Convention Against Torture
- Immediate effect
- DHS can use its 2025 third-country policy while the case is decided
In this article
- What the Supreme Court decided on third country deportations
- Can ICE deport you to a different country than your own?
- What happens when you are deported to a third country
- Which countries ICE has sent people to
- What the lower courts required, and what the Supreme Court will decide
- How the third-country removal case got here
- What changes now, and what does not
- What to check if you or a family member faces removal
- Third country deportation FAQs
Short answer: Can ICE deport you to a country you're not from? For now, yes. On September 29, 2026, the Supreme Court paused a Boston federal court's ruling that had struck down the government's third country deportation policy. ICE can again send people with final removal orders to a country their order doesn't name, with no notice required when that country has promised not to persecute or torture the people it receives and the State Department finds that promise credible. The pause is temporary: the justices agreed to hear the full case in December 2026, and three of them would have refused the government's request.
What the Supreme Court decided on third country deportations
In a short order on September 29, 2026, the Supreme Court granted the government's request and paused the February 25, 2026 order and judgment of the federal district court in Massachusetts in D.V.D. v. DHS, the class action over third-country removals. The Court also agreed to hear the whole case, which now has its own number, No. 26-426. The order gives no reasons. It says Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson "would deny the application for stay."
The justices told both sides to argue four questions: whether the Boston court had the power to hear the case at all, whether one ruling could cover everyone in the group and strike down the policy despite a federal law (8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1)) that limits court orders against removals, whether the 2025 guidance breaks federal removal law, due process or the torture convention, and anything else the government thinks the Court needs to decide. The case will be argued in December 2026, and the pause lasts until the Court decides it and its decision takes effect.
It is the third time the government has asked the justices for emergency relief in this case, and it has won each time, according to the government's application and NPR. NBC News reported the order as allowing the policy. If you or a family member has a removal order, an immigration lawyer can tell you whether this changes your own case.
Can ICE deport you to a different country than your own?
Yes, the law allows it in some cases, and both sides in this case agree on that much. A removal order normally names a country, such as the one you are a citizen of. Federal law, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b), lists the countries the government can use in order, and ends with a fallback in the law itself: any "country whose government will accept the alien into that country," as the government's application quotes it. The same filing says third-country removals are "not uncommon," for example when a person's home country refuses to take them back, or when a court has already ruled they can't be sent there.
What the case is about is the process before you're put on a plane. The law bars sending someone to a country where they would likely be persecuted or tortured. That protection, called withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture, covers only the countries it names, so a person protected from one country can still be sent to another. The fight is over how much warning you get, and whether you get a real chance to say you fear the new country, before the flight leaves.
- 7,257
- third-country removals to Mexico from January 2025 to March 2026, per ICE
- 7,620
- people outside detention barred from their order's country, ICE's approximate count as of March 2026
- 559
- people in ICE custody awaiting third-country removal, ICE's approximate count as of March 2026
What happens when you are deported to a third country
ICE gives you a written notice naming the country, unless the State Department trusts that country's promise not to persecute or torture you, and you get a short window to say you fear being sent there. With the lower court's judgment paused, the rules in DHS's March 30, 2025 guidance and ICE's July 9, 2025 memo apply again. Both memos are in the record filed with the Supreme Court.
| If or when | What the 2025 policy says |
|---|---|
| The State Department finds the country's promise not to persecute or torture credible | You "may be removed without the need for further procedures", with no notice of the country required |
| No such promise | An officer serves a Notice of Removal naming the country and reads it to you in a language you understand |
| Being asked whether you're afraid | The officer will not ask; you have to say it yourself |
| How long before the flight | ICE will generally wait at least 24 hours after the notice, or, in urgent cases, at least 6 hours if you're given a way to speak with a lawyer |
| You say you fear that country | USCIS generally screens you within 24 hours and asks whether persecution or torture there is more likely than not |
| You fail the screening | You "will be removed" to that country |
| You pass the screening | Your case goes back to immigration court, or ICE may pick a different country instead |
Which countries ICE has sent people to
No law lists the countries in advance. In a sworn declaration filed in March 2026 and included in the government's appendix, an ICE official said Mexico "has accepted the most third-country removals," 7,257 since January 21, 2025. The same declaration says "approximately 103" more people were flown to countries other than their own under agreements with South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Courthouse News reported that the government has sent thousands of people to 35 countries under such agreements. Those counts come from the government and news reporting, and no court has tested them.
The people fighting the policy describe the other side of those flights. In their response to the Supreme Court, their lawyers wrote that people in the case who were removed without real notice "have faced prolonged and arbitrary detention, beatings and sexual assault, disappearance, and chain refoulement," meaning being sent on to a country the United States had already protected them from. The government told the Court that the lower court's rules would delay removals of people convicted of serious crimes whose own countries won't take them back, and that a canceled flight carrying 70 people to three countries needed new diplomatic talks.
What the lower courts required, and what the Supreme Court will decide
Judge Brian E. Murphy's final judgment of February 25, 2026 covered people with final removal orders, other than expedited removal orders, whom DHS has deported or will deport on or after February 18, 2025 to a country not named in their removal proceedings. On September 18, 2026, a unanimous First Circuit panel of Judges Montecalvo, Howard and Aframe affirmed most of it, and five days later lifted its own pause. Those courts' view is not the last word: the Supreme Court now decides each question, and its order keeps the judgment from applying in the meantime.
| Question | District court and First Circuit | Government's position |
|---|---|---|
| Notice before removal to a third country | People in the case have a right to "meaningful notice" | The 2025 policy's notice is enough, and none is needed when a country has given assurances |
| A chance to raise fear of the new country | People in the case have a right to a "meaningful opportunity" to raise a country-specific claim | Everyone in the case already had a chance to raise fears in their removal proceedings |
| The March and July 2025 policy | Declared unlawful and set aside | Lawful; the courts had no power to review it |
| Trying the country in the removal order first | The district court required it; the First Circuit threw that part out, saying the challengers had no legal right to bring that claim (standing) | Not required |
| One ruling for everyone in the group | Allowed: the courts only declared rights and struck the policy down, which a federal limit on blocking removals does not bar | Not allowed: the government calls it "a coercive injunction by another name" |
How the third-country removal case got here
DHS issues its guidance on removing people to countries not named in their removal orders.
Judge Murphy lets the case go forward for everyone affected nationwide and orders written notice and a chance to raise fear claims.
The Supreme Court pauses that order in full; on July 3 it says the pause also covers the judge's follow-up order.
ICE tells officers to follow the March 2025 guidance, adding the 24-hour wait.
Judge Murphy rules for everyone in the case and sets the policy aside.
The First Circuit pauses the judgment while the government appeals.
The First Circuit affirms most of the judgment, 3-0.
The First Circuit lifts its pause, and the judgment takes effect.
The government asks the Supreme Court to pause the judgment again.
The Supreme Court pauses the judgment and agrees to hear the case in December.
What changes now, and what does not
The order restores the 2025 policy for now; it does not end anyone's protection. ICE's July 2025 memo, written after the Supreme Court's first pause in this case, said that pause "does not alter any decisions issued by any other courts as to individual aliens" about the process owed before a third-country removal, according to the record. If you're on a visa or facing removal, this is not the only 2026 fight over how far federal power reaches; in August a judge ruled that using two immigration laws to cancel visas or deport people over protected speech is unconstitutional.
| Question | As of September 30, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Can ICE send someone to a country not named in their removal order? | Yes, under the 2025 policy, while the Supreme Court case is pending. |
| Does ICE have to give notice first? | Not when the State Department finds the country's assurances credible; otherwise, a written notice and generally at least 24 hours. |
| If a judge protected you from being sent to one country, is that protection gone? | No. It still bars removal to that country. |
| Has the Supreme Court said the policy is legal? | No. It paused the judgment and will decide the questions after the December argument. |
| How long does the pause last? | Until the Supreme Court decides the case and its decision takes effect. |
What to check if you or a family member faces removal
Under this policy the time between a notice and a flight can be a matter of hours, so the details matter early. This is general information, not legal advice. An immigration lawyer or a lawyer who handles civil rights cases can look at your papers, and if you don't have one, we can help you find one.
- Which country your removal order names, and whether it lists an alternative country.
- Whether an immigration judge granted withholding of removal or torture-convention protection, and for which country.
- Any Notice of Removal you receive: the country it names and the date and time it was served.
- Whether you have told an officer, in writing or out loud, that you fear being sent to that country.
- Whether a court has issued an order in your own case about the process before a third-country removal.
- The Supreme Court docket, No. 26-426, for the briefing schedule and the December argument date.
Third country deportation FAQs
What is a third country deportation?
It is a removal to a country other than the one named in a person's removal order, usually because their home country won't take them back or a judge has ruled they can't be sent there. Federal law lets the government, as a last option, use any country whose government will accept the person.
Does ICE have to give notice before a third country deportation?
Not when the State Department finds the country's assurances credible. Otherwise, under the 2025 policy, which the Supreme Court let ICE use again while it decides the case, ICE serves a written notice naming the country and generally waits at least 24 hours, or, in urgent cases, at least 6 hours if you're given a way to speak with a lawyer, so you can say you fear being sent there.
What happens when you are deported to a third country?
Under the policy, an officer serves a notice naming the country unless the State Department finds that country's assurances credible. If you say you're afraid, USCIS screens you, generally within 24 hours. If you don't show persecution or torture is more likely than not, you are removed; if you do, the case goes back to immigration court or ICE picks another country.
Which countries can you be sent to if deported from the US?
No fixed list exists. The law sets an order: first the country you picked, then your country of citizenship, then countries you have ties to, such as where you were born or lived, and last any country that will accept you. An ICE declaration filed in March 2026 names Mexico as the country that took the most, plus South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Is the Supreme Court's order a final ruling?
No. The order pauses the lower court's judgment and grants full review. The case is set for argument in the December 2026 session, and the pause lasts until the Court decides the case and its decision takes effect. Three justices would have denied the pause.
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