WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A United States (US) federal appeals court on Friday broadly upheld a lower court ruling restricting a Trump administration policy of deporting undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own.

The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said people facing “third-country” deportations must be given effective notice ahead of time about where they are being sent to allow them to raise concerns about potential persecution.

Congress has made it US policy not to deport people to countries where their lives would be in danger or they could be subject to torture.

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“An individual’s right to contest removal to a country based on a fear of persecution in that country means little if one does not receive prior notice of the intended removal destination and a meaningful opportunity to contest that destination,” said Judge Seth Aframe, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy “would deny access to that protection to a substantial swath of noncitizens who are sent to third countries with no notice of their destination,” the judge said.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the case to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

Donald Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States and has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations since returning to the White House.

The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.