A countdown is on for a plane of eight immigration detainees to be flown from a US Naval base in Djibouti to war-torn South Sudan Friday night, with lawyers for the migrants rushing to judges on the Independence Day holiday to try to block the takeoff to a country where they say their clients could face torture.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport a group of migrants with criminal records held at a U.S. base in Djibouti; the administration says they'll be sent to South Sudan.

Only one of the eight immigrants set to be expelled to South Sudan is from that nation. The Supreme Court on Thursday granted a request by the Trump administration to send eight men who have spent more than a month imprisoned on a U.