The declaration detailed the conditions that the detainees face, including only being allowed to shower once a day, and being subjected to “pat-downs and searches” during trips to the restroom, which is 40 yards from the shipping container where they are being held. Harper said there is limited lighting in the area, “which makes visibility difficult and creates a significant security risk for both the officers and aliens”.
The Trump administration had attempted to send the eight men to their home countries of Myanmar, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and South Sudan. Those countries declined to accept them, however, and US authorities then arranged to fly them to South Sudan in late May.
Brian Murphy, a US district judge in Boston, intervened, ruling that the administration had “unquestionably” violated his earlier order, issued in April, which ruled that anyone facing deportation to third-party countries had the right to challenge it legally.