Why Some Immigrants Avoided Deportation to Libya

According to his attorney, a Filipino immigrant who was being held in Texas spoke about how armed guards in tactical gear woke him up at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, informed him that he was being taken to Libya, and then made him wait for hours on a bus at a military base outside a military plane.  The immigrant’s attorney, Johnny Sinodis, told NBC News that the flight never took off and that he and the other 12 detainees, who were primarily from Asian nations, were sent to solitary confinement in the Texas facility.  Later, the immigrants—who included those from Mexico, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines—would find out that their lawyers had filed an emergency motion in response to rumors that the Trump administration intended to send a group of immigrants to Libya. A federal judge subsequently implemented a prior ruling on Wednesday afternoon, stopping deportations to third countries.  A judge issued a preliminary injunction last week, stating that the Trump administration must take a number of actions to guarantee that noncitizens receive sufficient due process before deporting them to a third nation.  Immigration and humanitarian activists reacted negatively to reports of intentions to transfer migrants to Libya.  On social media, Libya’s interim Government of National Unity stated that it does not coordinate deportations with the United States and that it does not approve of the use of the nation as a destination for deported immigrants without the country’s knowledge or approval.

Source: NBC News