DHS exposes dilemma behind SCOTUS deportation fight: ‘We have two choices’

The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to keep deporting people to third countries while it weighs the dispute, and the Department of Homeland Security is now defending the practice publicly. General Counsel James Percival says the administration is reviving immigration powers that earlier presidents mostly left unused, according to Fox News.

Under the approach, a person who can be removed is sent elsewhere when their homeland cannot or will not take them back. Percival told Fox News Digital that persuading other governments to accept such individuals takes considerable diplomatic effort, adding, "Norway is not taking a rapist from Cuba."

On Tuesday, the justices put a lower court's restrictions on hold, so DHS guidance stays in effect until the Court rules on the merits. Arguments are scheduled for December on whether the agency's procedures satisfy immigration law, due process and protections against torture. The case does not directly dispute the underlying authority, only the steps required first. Percival maintains the power is expressly written into law, enacted by Congress in 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton, and likens officials who never use their authority to people who keep fine china unused out of fear of breaking it.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →