The Trump administration’s reported plan to hurriedly deport immigrants to war-torn Libya would “clearly violate” an earlier court order barring such summary deportations, a federal judge warned Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s assessment followed an emergency motion filed by lawyers for a group of Asian immigrants seeking to block a military flight that appeared to be on the verge of taking off from Texas — even as the two competing governments that control portions of Libya reportedly indicated they would reject deportation flights from the United States.
Citing “alarming reports” in the media and accounts from some of their clients — nationals of Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines — the lawyers said the immigrants are at risk of being sent to Libya in defiance of an earlier injunction, issued by Murphy, prohibiting deportations to so-called third-party countries without notice and a chance to make a legal challenge. They asked Murphy to quickly prevent any deportation flights to Libya and to ensure the Trump administration is complying with his earlier order. They also asked Murphy to block flights to potential “stopover” nations like Saudi Arabia.