The Supreme Court has cleared the path for the Trump administration to deport a group of immigrants held at a U.S. military base in Djibouti to South Sudan.
The order came less than two weeks after the high court temporarily stayed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, whose order barred the federal government from deporting immigrants to “third countries”—those not explicitly named in their removal orders—without first ensuring, through a series of safeguards, that the individuals would not face torture upon deportation
Murphy’s May 21 ruling found that the government violated his April 18 order by attempting to deport eight men to South Sudan. The U.S. has evacuated all non-emergency personnel from South Sudan, and the State Department advises against travel there due to “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”
The flight carrying the immigrants bound for South Sudan instead landed in nearby Djibouti, where the men have since been held at a U.S. military base.
On May 27, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court to stay Murphy’s April 18 order, seeking permission to proceed with “third country” removals while the legal battle over the practice unfolds.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer contended that Murphy’s “judicially created procedures are currently wreaking havoc on the third-country removal process” and “disrupt[ing] sensitive diplomatic, foreign policy, and national-security efforts.”
Several hours after the Supreme Court responded to the Trump administration’s first request, made on June 23, Murphy then claimed that his May 21 order remained unaffected by the high court’s decision.
The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court the following day, requesting that the justices clarify the federal government’s authority to proceed with deporting the immigrants currently held in Djibouti. Sauer urged the court to act swiftly to address what he called Murphy’s “unprecedented defiance” of the court’s authority.
In Thursday’s brief, an unsigned 7-2 opinion, the majority indicated that the court’s “June 23 order stayed the April 18 preliminary injunction in full. The May 21 remedial order cannot now be used to enforce an injunction that our stay rendered unenforceable.”
Two of the Supreme Court’s liberals, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented, while the third liberal, Justice Elena Kagan, sided with the court’s conservative majority.
She noted that she had previously disagreed with the Supreme Court’s original ruling permitting third-country removals to proceed. “But a majority of this court saw things differently, and I do not see how a district court can compel compliance with an order that this court has stayed,” she wrote.
The eight illegal immigrants include individuals from Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos, reports noted.
Sotomayor’s dissent contended that “[w]hat the Government wants to do, concretely, is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death.”
She argued that the court should not have considered the government’s request at all, as the government should have made its arguments in the lower courts first. Moreover, she suggested that the Supreme Court’s “continued refusal to justify its extraordinary decisions in this case, even as it faults lower courts for failing to properly divine their import, is indefensible
Captain Marvin Taylor III was a committed father and husband, working overtime to provide for his growing family
“Your fifth child comes into the world and, a few hours later, you leave to go check on the other four kids and pick them up to bring them back to meet their new sibling.” Fire Chief James Kubinski, who worked with Captain Marvin Taylor III before the fatal accident on Mother’s Day, tells PEOPLE.
“He never came back,” adds Kubinski.
Taylor had just left a hospital in Austin after meeting his newborn when he was hit from behind in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 11.
“It was an intoxicated driver traveling at over a hundred miles per hour,” says Kubinski, 49. “That driver was immediately detained by police and arrested.”
Officials told CBS affiliate KWTX that 34-year-old Rodney Bremby was arrested in Taylor’s death. A spokesperson for the Travis County Jail confirms to PEOPLE that Bremby arrived on May 11 and was held on a $103,000 bond. He is charged with intoxication manslaughter and was released two days later on a personal recognizance bond.
The spokesperson says he will wear an ankle monitor until his court date. It is unclear if Bremby has retained representation.
An investigation is ongoing, the Austin Police Department confirms to PEOPLE. The City of Austin Municipal Court did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In the weeks since Taylor’s death, his family is still in “disbelief,” says Kubinski.
Now Taylor’s wife is not only “adjusting to a newborn, but she’s adjusting to a newborn without her husband,” he remarks.
The fire department in Killeen — which consists of 264 sworn civil service personnel and about a dozen administrative staff — is also shaken by the sudden loss of one of its longstanding leaders.
Taylor joined the fire department in 2014, and recently started working in the training division 10 months ago. He quickly doubled the pool of new applicants from approximately 150 to 400 in that short period. Kubinski admired his passion and commitment to the job, adding that he couldn’t speak any higher of someone in Taylor’s position.
Last fall, as a heavy storm system ravaged parts of Texas, the captain was one of three service members deployed from the Killeen Fire Department. During that deployment, Taylor helped save a stranger from floodwaters, for which he received a Medal of Valor.
“That was part of the eulogy that was shared by one of his shift mates,” says Kubinski. “They talked about that incident with so much pride.”
The captain was the sole provider for his growing family, often taking extra shifts to support his wife and children. The kids, all boys, were named after Catholic saints.
In one of Kubinski’s last interactions with Taylor, they talked about the new baby.
“I said, ‘Which baby is this? Which number is this?’ He said, ‘This is my number five,’ ” recalls Kubinski, who joked that Taylor could have his own “engine company.”
“He laughed,” says Kubinski. “He was a family man.”
The fire chief says that navigating the news of Taylor’s death has been one of the hardest things he’s personally experienced, as it has been for many who knew Taylor.
Despite their collective pain, the department rallied around Taylor’s family.
A two-person honor guard stood over Taylor’s remains for 10 days, which was followed by a funeral service at a catholic church in Copperas Cove, a miles-long procession and final honors at the graveside. Separately, a fund that was created in Taylor’s memory has raised more than $145,000 as of Tuesday, June 3.
“We’re still grieving,” remarks Kubinski, who says there are still moments when they get teary-eyed when thinking about what the captain would have done or said. “We’re still hurting.”