Trump adviser Stephen Miller promises 'fireworks' in deportation fight

Flint McColgan, Boston Herald on Jun 24, 2025

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The Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify whether it can proceed with deportations to South Sudan after a Boston-based federal judge continued to block them in what the government calls “unprecedented defiance” of the high court.

The move was foreshadowed Monday night by Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, who warned to “expect fireworks.”

“The district court judge in Boston has said he’s going to defy the Supreme Court’s ruling, so expect fireworks tomorrow, when we hold this judge accountable for refusing to obey the Supreme Court,” Miller said on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy is overseeing a lawsuit by “noncitizens with final removal orders” to either their home countries or secondary countries in “which they hold (legal) status.”

Their challenge is to the administration’s ability to remove them instead to “a third country … without first providing them with notice or opportunity to contest removal on the basis that they have a fear of persecution, torture, and even death if deported to that third country.” They say their request is part of the “basic, minimal protections” afforded by federal immigration laws.

Murphy ordered a halt to the deportations to allow for such safety reviews and then on May 21 found that the federal government had defied his order. He ordered that the plaintiffs “must be given a reasonable fear interview” with attorney representation on par with those that would have been afforded to them if such interviews occurred in the U.S. prior to removal.

But on Monday, the Trump administration landed a win with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 6–3 to grant the administration’s request to continue the deportations to South Sudan despite Murphy’s order. The judge pushed back later that day, acknowledging the ruling broadly, but saying that his order on the specific flight “remains in full force and effect.”

He quoted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown, to support his position: “(T)he District Court’s remedial orders (were) not properly before (the Supreme) Court because the Government has not appealed them, nor sought a stay pending a forthcoming appeal.”

The Trump administration was back before the court Tuesday seeking clarification on its Monday decision in light of Murphy’s response.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, also on Tuesday, pressed for “emergency action” following Monday’s Supreme Court ruling. The filing said that the plaintiffs were “currently being held in a shipping container at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti.”

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