A US judge in Boston ordered a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to deport migrants to Libya, saying it would “clearly violate” a prior order he made that ensures their right to due process.
The order came after two US officials told BBC partner CBS News that the US may soon start deporting migrants to Libya as part of its crackdown on immigration.
In response to the deportations report, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh wrote in a statement on X that his country refused “to be a destination for the deportation of migrants under any pretext.”
Responding to the same report, a spokesperson for the US state department said they would not discuss the matter.
The officials who spoke to CBS – who requested anonymity – said the US military could fly migrants to the North African country as early as this week.
The move is likely to spark controversy – Libya has been mired in conflict for more than a decade and the US state department advises Americans not to travel there due to factors like crime, terrorism and civil unrest.
Immigration lawyers moved quickly on Wednesday to prevent the Trump administration from carrying out the deportations, asking a Massachusetts judge to “urgently” issue a temporary block.
“Multiple credible sources report that flights are preparing to immediately depart the United States carrying class members for removal to Libya,” the attorneys wrote in their court filing
US District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston responded late on Wednesday afternoon by issuing an order that restricts the Trump administration’s ability to quickly deport the migrants.
In his ruling, Judge Murphy said the deportations “blatantly” defy an injunction he had previously issued that protects the due process rights of migrants subject to final deportation orders.
That earlier ruling requires officials to provide migrants with a written notice in their language and a meaningful opportunity to file a claim to protect them from removal.
Asked whether he was aware of the plan to deport migrants to Libya, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday: “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask homeland security.”
Libya is thought to be one of several countries asked to accept migrant deportations by Trump’s administration.
This week Rwanda confirmed it was in the “early stage” of talks with the US, while Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Moldova have all been named in media reports.
It is not clear how many people the US hopes to deport to Libya, or which part of Libya the migrants would be sent to.
Since the overthrow of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has been divided into two – the west is ruled by a UN-backed government, of which Dbeibeh is prime minister, while military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar controls the east.
Haftar’s son met US officials in Washington last Monday, but the US state department and a Libyan spokesperson said the meeting was not about deportations.
Since returning to office in January, President Trump has launched a mass deportation campaign – at times relying on controversial tactics such as the invocation of a centuries-old wartime law.
Earlier this week, the government offered migrants who are in the US illegally a sum worth $1,000 (£751) to leave the country.
