ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) issued this statement in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday in DHS v DVD. The key question in the case is whether, before it can remove a noncitizen to a country other than the one identified in their original removal proceedings, the federal government has to provide them with an opportunity to raise in court whether they face torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in that “third” country. The lower court said yes and issued a ruling barring the government from removing individuals to third countries without at least some kind of process while the case proceeds. Yesterday, the Supreme Court stayed that ruling.

“This decision is abhorrent and will put people’s lives at risk. All the district required was for the government to provide notice and a meaningful opportunity for a person to challenge their removal – to any country to which the government ultimately decides to send them – on the grounds that they risk being subject to torture and abuse there,” said Scott Roehm, CVT director of global policy and advocacy.

“By staying the district court’s order, the Supreme Court is effectively telling the Trump administration that, at least for the time being, the administration can send a noncitizen who has been ordered removed anywhere it wants, with no process at all, grave danger notwithstanding. But both the Convention against Torture, and relevant implementing legislation in the U.S., categorically prohibit such transfers. You cannot send a person to another country where they’re in danger of being tortured. That prohibition, and the protection it affords, is categorical: it applies to everyone, everywhere, and always.”

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The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization with offices in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, United States and additional project sites around the world. Visit www.cvt.org