President Trump has denied knowledge of Libya deportations, though his officials have sought to deport migrants abroad.
Authorities in Libya, a country still divided after years of civil war, have denied reports that they will receive undocumented migrants deported by the United States.
The Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that deportation flights from the US to the North African country could begin this week, despite previous government reports raising alarm over unsafe conditions there. A judge warned later in the day that such a move would violate a previous court order meant to protect due process rights for migrants.
The National Unity government, which controls western Libya, said in a statement that it rejected the use of its territory as a destination for deporting migrants without its knowledge or consent.
“The Government of National Unity categorically denies any agreement or coordination with US authorities regarding the deportation of migrants to Libya,” it said in a statement.
Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army, which controls eastern Libya, also rejected the report, saying that migrants “will not be received through airports and ports secured by the Armed Forces, and that this is completely false and we cannot accept it at all”.
The report by Reuters, which cites three anonymous US officials, says that the US military could fly migrants to Libya for detention as soon as Wednesday, but it notes that those plans are subject to change. The number and nationality of the migrants who could be deported are unknown.
Federal judge Brian Murphy said on Wednesday that any such effort by the administration would “clearly” violate a previous court order stating that migrants being deported to countries other than their own must have the chance to raise concerns about their potential safety and conditions in countries where they are being sent for detention.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has sought out third-party countries where it can deport and detain undocumented immigrants, part of a larger push to enact a hard-right vision of immigration enforcement.
But later on Wednesday, Trump dodged questions about the Reuters report, saying he knew nothing about deportations to Libya.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Homeland Security,” Trump told journalists in the Oval Office.
Still, his administration has previously forged agreements with other countries, including Panama and El Salvador, to receive deportations from the US.
On April 30, for example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced at a cabinet meeting at the White House that the US was requesting that other countries take its undocumented immigrants.
“We are working with other countries to say: We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings. Will you do this as a favour to us?” Rubio said. “And the further away from America, the better.”
‘Extortion, forced labour and unlawful killings’
Authorities in Libya have long been willing and controversial partners in immigration enforcement, collaborating with the European Union to intercept and detain migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
A 2022 statement from the human rights watchdog Amnesty International says that “men, women and children returned to Libya face arbitrary detention, torture, cruel and inhuman detention conditions, rape and sexual violence, extortion, forced labour and unlawful killings”.
The US government itself has also documented unsafe conditions in Libya, with a report released last year by the Department of State noting “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions” and “arbitrary arrest and detention”.
Such conditions have not deterred the Trump administration from sending undocumented immigrants to prisons known for abusive conditions in countries like El Salvador, sometimes based on unsubstantiated allegations of gang affiliation and without due process.
The practice of third countries entering into agreements with Western nations to warehouse undocumented migrants and asylum seekers is also not entirely new.
Earlier this week, Rwanda also stated that it was discussing the possibility of receiving undocumented immigrants from the US. The Rwandan government has also previously entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom to hold asylum seekers while their claims were processed in the UK, although that deal ultimately stalled when faced with backlash and legal challenges.