The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume 'third-country' deportations—removing migrants to nations with no connection to their case—while it prepares to hear oral arguments on the merits on December 9, with a ruling expected sometime next year. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated they would have kept the removals on hold. Independent trackers estimate more than 25,000 people have been removed to third countries since January 2025, sent to between 29 and 35 nations under largely undisclosed agreements. Lawyers for migrants describe consequences including two men deported to Equatorial Guinea who said police beat them and held them at gunpoint in a converted hotel detention facility, and Cuban nationals routed through Mexico left without money or documents.