A Filipino immigrant detained in Texas described a distressing incident where he was abruptly awakened by armed guards and informed of his imminent deportation to Libya. Following hours of waiting on a bus at a military base, he and other detainees were ultimately returned to solitary confinement when the flight did not take off. This group included individuals from the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, and Mexico, who feared being sent to an unfamiliar country notorious for human rights abuses. An emergency motion filed by their attorneys led a federal judge to halt planned deportations to third countries.
The immigrant’s attorney, Johnny Sinodis, criticized the process as legally dubious and inefficient, questioning the logic of sending someone from Mexico to Libya. Another attorney, Tin Nguyen, recounted that his client had been pressured to sign a document agreeing to deportation, despite language barriers and lack of translation. Detainees refusing to comply faced further isolation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged efforts to find other countries willing to accept deportees, portraying them in derogatory terms. Reports of sending migrants to Libya have sparked outrage among humanitarian advocates, given the country’s documented abuses against migrants, including arbitrary detention, torture, and murder.
Libya’s provisional Government of National Unity has publicly stated it is not coordinating with the U.S. for deportations and rejects being used as a destination for U.S. deportees without consent. This situation raises profound concerns regarding the safety and treatment of those at risk of deportation to third countries like Libya, especially given the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory designating Libya as a high-risk destination.
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