Todd Blanche Decries Order 'In the Dark of Night'

Attorney General Todd Blanche said a federal appeals court order "in the dark of night" robbed the government of "an entirely legal and valuable tool to stem the tide of illegal immigration," The Associated Press reported. The order sent the Trump administration to the Supreme Court.

The administration told the justices the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday just minutes before midnight, the AP reported. Lawyers for the migrants had said they heard from "multiple sources" that a flight was set to leave Alexandria, Louisiana, the next day for Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic.

Why it matters

The Washington Post reported that the policy has sent thousands of migrants to countries where they are not citizens, calling it a key and controversial part of the administration's mass deportation agenda. The appeals court did not bar the deportations outright, but the ruling lengthens the process, and attorneys for the administration wrote it could force the reworking of agreements with foreign countries, the AP reported.

Key points

• The 1st Circuit said late Wednesday an earlier order letting third-country flights continue no longer applies.
• The migrants' lawyers said the flight was headed for Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic; the administration did not name the countries.
• Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the migrants' lawyers until Monday afternoon to respond.

Todd Blanche and the 1st Circuit's midnight order

The migrants' lawyers sought emergency relief Wednesday night, the AP reported, and within hours the court said it was clarifying last week's ruling against the policy and that a previous order allowing flights to continue no longer applied.

The administration's filing said the justices needed to step in to "halt that chaos" and that the cancellation "required a new round of diplomatic engagement with each of the three countries," the AP reported.

This month, lawyers for two men deported to Equatorial Guinea said police beat them and held them at gunpoint in a hotel used as a detention center, the AP reported.

What D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court

The emergency request seeks a pause of a February 2026 order from a federal judge in Boston requiring notice and a chance to contest removal before a third-country deportation, according to CBS News. An appeals court largely upheld that order last week.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that the administration has removed thousands of people to third countries in recent months and that thousands more are eligible for removal, CBS News reported. He wrote that the policy covers "some of the worst of the worst criminal aliens — whose home countries refuse to take them back." Sauer also said the lower court's decision "undermines our standing abroad," CBS News reported.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Liberia and the third-country deals

Jackson, who handles emergency appeals from the region, gave the migrants' lawyers until Monday afternoon to respond, CBS News reported.

Liberia has accepted migrants with no known criminal records beyond U.S. immigration violations, CBS News reported, while Eswatini and South Sudan have taken deportees with serious criminal histories. Deportees sent to Liberia last month told CBS News they received no advance notice or chance to contest their removal.

Update: This article was updated with the timing of the appeals court order, the flight's reported destinations, Todd Blanche's response and an account from lawyers for two men deported to Equatorial Guinea.