A US federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's policy of deporting undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own is unlawful.
District Judge Brian Murphy has put his ruling on so-called "third-country deportations" on hold for 15 days to allow the government to file an appeal.
"This case is about whether the Government may, without notice, deport a person to the wrong country, or a country where he is likely to be persecuted, or tortured," Murphy has written in his 81-page decision.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has previously argued that it is "fine" to deport a migrant to a third country so long as authorities know they will not be shot on arrival.
"It is not fine, nor is it legal," the judge stated.
The judge has noted that Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or where they could be subject to torture.
Under the DHS policy, however, "immigration officers need not give notice or any opportunity to object before removing someone to an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous country," Murphy has said.
Murphy has criticised the policy for relying on vague "assurances" that no persecution or torture will occur.
"This new policy — which purports to stand in for the protections Congress has mandated — fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported 'assurances,'" he has said.
The judge, an appointee of Democratic president Joe Biden, has previously sought to block the deportation of a group of migrants to war-torn South Sudan but was overruled by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court last June.
The Trump administration has defended the practice as necessary since some home nations refuse to accept citizens convicted of violent crimes.
Donald Trump has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House.
