Overview

• The Lyons memo lets ICE deport noncitizens with final removal orders to nations other than their own with 24 hours’ notice if no assurances exist, six hours in exigent circumstances, or immediately with credible diplomatic guarantees
• On July 15, ICE used the new guidance to send a group of men convicted of violent crimes from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen to Eswatini—the first removals under the six-hour or no-notice policy
• A June Supreme Court decision stayed lower-court injunctions that had required meaningful notice and hearings before third-country removals, clearing the way for the administration’s expanded deportation strategy
• DHS says it has negotiated nearly a dozen safe third-country agreements but has not disclosed which countries provided diplomatic assurances or the terms underpinning those pledges
• Human rights groups and immigration lawyers have filed lawsuits contending the policy erodes due-process rights and risks sending migrants to countries where they could face persecution or torture