A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful.

Phan was taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and then to a Texas immigration lockup. There, his family prepared for his expected deportation to Vietnam with a suitcase of clothing and a cell phone for him once he was deported. “We'd accepted it," Ngoc Phan said. "We planned for it."