A US federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration's policy of rapidly deporting migrants to countries other than their own, Al Jazeera reported, in a ruling that could next go before the Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston largely upheld a February decision that found the Department of Homeland Security's so-called third-country removal policy unlawful. Writing for the panel, US Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said migrants must be given a "meaningful" chance to raise safety concerns before removal, rejecting the administration's narrower reading of the law. The Emancipator, reporting the same Friday ruling, said immigration officers must allow people a meaningful opportunity to contest deportation to a third country before sending them to a country far from the United States and their homeland.

The court did overturn part of the lower ruling on procedural grounds, concerning whether officials must first try deporting migrants to countries they have ties to. The case stems from a class-action lawsuit testing what due process migrants are owed before being sent to nations with which they have no ties.

Trina Realmuto, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said the decision confirmed that "due process and the protections Congress enacted against persecution and torture cannot be circumvented by putting someone on a plane to a country that was never part of their removal proceedings". The DHS did not immediately comment, Al Jazeera reported, and the Trump administration is expected to appeal.

Under the policy, adopted in March 2025, removals could proceed with only minimal notice if officials had diplomatic assurances against persecution. Al Jazeera reported, citing the Third Country Deportation Watch tracker run by Refugees International and Human Rights First, that the US has struck agreements allowing it to send more than 25,000 migrants to at least 29 third countries, most often Mexico. The Emancipator cited non-governmental organisations putting the figure at more than 22,000 people deported to at least 26 countries as of August 2026. The programme has previously reached the Supreme Court, which in 2025 cleared the way for eight men, including nationals of Cuba, Myanmar and Vietnam, to be deported to South Sudan. (Sources: Al Jazeera; The Emancipator)