Joe Biden Judges Used a Technicality to Stop ICE From Deporting a Peruvian Criminal

September 27, 2026 Cat2, The Media
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The Supreme Court handed Trump a 6-3 victory on third-country deportations in 2025.

Now a Peruvian criminal who should be on a plane to Ghana is still in the United States.

That’s because Joe Biden-appointed judges used a technicality to stop ICE from deporting this Peruvian criminal.

How a Peruvian Migrant Almost Made It to Ghana Before Biden Judges Intervened

ICE had a deportation flight ready.

The migrant – a Peruvian national identified only as "John Doe" – was headed to Ghana.

His home country won't take him back.

So ICE found a country that would.

That's exactly what the Trump administration has been doing for two years – cutting deals with third-party nations to accept migrants whose home countries refuse repatriation.

The Supreme Court blessed this in June 2025, clearing the way for deportations to nations like South Sudan in a 6-3 ruling with every conservative justice in the majority.

Then Biden District Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts decided he knew better.

Murphy issued a February 2026 ruling demanding migrants receive "meaningful" notice before removal to any third country.

ICE pushed back.

The stay allowing deportations to continue while the case was litigated was still technically in effect, ICE argued.

So the First Circuit – with two Biden judges on the three-judge panel – issued its formal mandate Wednesday to make the block official.

"Consistent with this court's September 18, 2026, Judgment, the March 16, 2026, stay pending appeal is dissolved," the court wrote.

First Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said DHS failed to raise “meaningful” concerns.

"DHS's proposed interpretation would deny access to that protection to a substantial swath of noncitizens who are sent to third ⁠countries with no notice of their destination," Aframe wrote. "We decline to adopt such an interpretation."

Translation: ICE's hands are tied again.

The Same Judge Who Defied SCOTUS Is Running the Show

Murphy is no stranger to this fight.

He's the same judge who tried to block the South Sudan deportation flight in May 2025 – a plane carrying eight convicted violent criminals including murderers and armed robbers from Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Mexico, and South Sudan itself.

The Supreme Court overruled him.

Then it overruled him again in July 2025 when he tried to stop that same flight from continuing to South Sudan from Djibouti.

His response?

Keep blocking.

Judge Seth Aframe – a Biden appointee who wrote the majority opinion in last week's ruling – argued Murphy was "sensible" to require DHS to give migrants a "meaningful" chance to object to their destination country.

"DHS's proposed interpretation would deny access to that protection to a substantial swath of noncitizens," Aframe wrote.

Those "noncitizens" include people whose own countries refuse to accept them back – often because of violent criminal histories.

This Is What Judicial Resistance Looks Like

The Trump administration builds a deportation tool.

A Biden judge blocks it.

The First Circuit stays the block.

ICE deports people.

Then the same Biden judges find a new angle – a procedural gap, a missing mandate, a technicality – and reimpose the block.

The cycle repeats.

This isn't law.

This is a deliberate strategy by Obama-Biden judges to wear down Trump's deportation machine one procedural ruling at a time.

The First Circuit's formal mandate Wednesday almost certainly puts this case back in front of SCOTUS – and Trump's conservative majority will almost certainly reverse it again.

But here's what's happening in the meantime: criminals like "John Doe" who can't be deported to Peru stay in the United States while the legal carousel spins.

The Biden judges know that.

That's the point.

Sources:

  • Anders Hagstrom, "Federal appeals court deals blow to Trump deportation agenda," Fox News, September 24, 2026.
  • Breanne Deppisch, "Biden-appointed federal judge rules Trump's 'third country' deportation policy is unconstitutional," Fox News, February 25, 2026.
  • "Trump admin can resume 'third-country' deportations: court," AFP/The News, March 17, 2026.
  • "US Supreme Court approves deportation of migrants to South Sudan," AFP, July 4, 2025.