Members of Congress expressed outrage at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deceiving eight men who were recently deported to South Sudan, as revealed earlier this week in an investigation by The Intercept. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called the expulsions “abhorrent.”

Before the men boarded a plane in May, officials told them that they were being sent on a short trip from Texas to another ICE facility in Louisiana. Many hours later, the plane landed in Djibouti.

The men — convicted criminals who had already served significant prison sentences — were held in a shipping container for weeks, shackled at the legs, on a U.S. military base in Djibouti. This past weekend, they were expelled to the violence-plagued nation of South Sudan.

The ICE deception revealed by The Intercept highlights the lengths to which the U.S. government will go to further its anti-immigrant agenda and deport people to so-called third countries to which they have no connections.

“Trump’s ICE treats immigrants as less than human, and this is a prime example,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has been a leading voice on the expulsion of immigrants from the U.S. to third countries, and called ICE’s behavior “beyond cruel.”

“Trump’s ICE treats immigrants as less than human, and this is a prime example.”

Jayapal added: “Yes, any person convicted of serious crimes should be held accountable — but Trump has decided to violate due process rights and ship immigrants to South Sudan, a country so dangerous that the U.S. State Department currently has a ‘Do Not Travel’ warning for it. Third country deportations with no due process are wrong, period, and we will keep fighting these illegal actions in court.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., also called out the government for........

© The Intercept