Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court as 3rd-country deportations are thrown into question

Your support keeps PBS News free and accessible. Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling to halt deportations of people to countries other than their own threw a core immigration policy of the Trump administration into question, at least temporarily, and prompted a desperate appeal to the Supreme Court on Thursday. The administration said the ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came Wednesday just minutes before midnight, forcing the cancellation of a flight with 70 people that was headed to three countries. It said justices needed to step in to "halt that chaos" and said the flight cancellation "required a new round of diplomatic engagement with each of the three countries," which it did not name. WATCH: 'Shadow surge' pushes immigration arrests to highs as Trump administration shifts tactics Plaintiffs for immigrants sought emergency relief from the appeals court Wednesday night, saying they heard from "multiple sources" that a deportation flight was scheduled the next day from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic. Within hours of that request, the appeals court said it was clarifying a ruling against the policy last week and said a previous order allowing flights to continue while legal challenges play out was no longer in effect.

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