A federal judge is warning the Trump administration against deporting third-country migrants to Libya following reports about imminent flights to the war-torn country.
Concretely, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston said such a move would violate a standing court order preventing people from being forcibly taken to countries where they could be hurt or killed.
Responding to an emergency request from lawyers representing migrants, Murphy said he has already prevented the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from deporting people to third countries without the possibility of challenging the decision.
“If there is any doubt — the Court sees none — the allegedly imminent removals, as reported by news agencies and as Plaintiffs seek to corroborate with class-member accounts and public information, would clearly violate this Court’s Order,” reads a passage of Murphy’s ruling.
President Donald Trump rejected any knowledge about deportation flights to the Northern African country, referring the matter to the DHS. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller did hint at such a decision, criticizing the ruling and saying “another judge puts himself in charge of the Pentagon.” “This is a judicial coup,” he added.
The possibility of sending migrants to Libya made headlines on Wednesday after different outlets reported on the matter. Quoting officials familiar with the matter, CBS News detailed that deportations could have started as soon as this week.
The Libyan provisional government, however, denied on Wednesday having reached an agreement with the Trump administration to receive third-country deportees. In a publication reported by NBC News, the country’s Government of National Unity said it “categorically denies the existence of any agreement or coordination with it regarding the reception of any migrants deported from the United States.”
The body also pointed at “some parallel parties that are not subject to legitimacy” as potentially involved with the development. Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which controls the eastern half of the country and some enclaves in the west, also rejected the possibility, saying it would “violate the sovereignty of the homeland.”
The State Department has a Level 4 travel advisory for Libya, warning Americans not to travel there due to “crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.” The country is also transited by many migrants who try to reach Europe. Advocates and U.S. officials have received accounts of mistreatment and even torture in detention centers in the country.
Originally published on Latin Times
