The foreign men convicted of crimes who were placed on a deportation flight headed for the chaotic nation of South Sudan were originally from countries as far away as Mexico and Vietnam. They had lived in various places from California to Iowa, Nebraska to Florida, with one serving a sentence of nearly 30 years.

A federal judge in Boston has told the Trump administration it must to maintain custody of migrants whom the US government has allegedly flown to South Sudan or other countries in recent days amid heightened concerns over the administration’s aggressive approach to deportations.