Closing time comes to every bar, and nobody acts surprised when the lights come up. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court let the Trump administration resume deporting people with final removal orders to countries other than their own while the justices hear the case in December. Predictably, the three left-leaning justices dissented. My view is simple. If you entered illegally, a judge ordered you out, and your homeland won’t take you, America can send you somewhere that will. The only destination off the table is staying here.

Critics treat this as exotic. Federal law disagrees. It lists where the government may send a person ordered removed, and the list ends with a catchall: “another country whose government will accept the alien.” Congress wrote that line. I’ve testified in courts, and I always read the statute before I read the headline. This one doesn’t require a law degree.