A federal judge has again blocked the Trump administration from deporting about 50 illegal Indonesian Christian immigrants who say they could face violence if sent back to Muslim-majority Indonesia.
In Boston Thursday, Judge Patti Saris ruled the Indonesians need more time to make their cases.
She said under U.S. immigration rules, they could be deported even before their cases are heard.
"Under this Kafkaesque procedure, they would be removed back to the very country where they fear persecution and torture while awaiting a decision on whether they should be subject to removal because of their fears of persecution and torture," Saris wrote.
Saris issued an injuction in November allowing them to stay.
The Indonesians are living in New Hampshire. Some have been in the United States for more than 20 years.
Immigration authorities have always allowed them to stay as long as they reported regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
But the officials told them in August they have to leave. It is unclear why.
