In a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration’s latest immigration maneuver, a U.S. federal judge has barred any attempts to quietly reroute deported migrants to Libya, calling the plan a flagrant breach of existing court orders and a threat to human rights.
The ruling came after reports surfaced that U.S. officials were preparing to send a group of detainees — potentially as early as this week — to Libya, a country repeatedly criticized by the U.S. government itself for inhumane prison conditions, political volatility, and widespread violence.
District Judge Brian Murphy didn’t mince words. Any such deportations, he wrote, would “clearly violate” the court’s existing injunction that prohibits U.S. agencies from offloading migrants to third countries without thoroughly vetting the risk of torture or persecution. The Trump administration had floated a legal loophole, arguing that the order applied only to the Department of Homeland Security and not to the Pentagon — which was reportedly being enlisted to handle the transport.
Murphy rejected that workaround flatly. “The Department of Homeland Security may not launder violations of the Court’s Order through another agency,” he wrote.
The scramble began after a leak to the press revealed that Washington was considering Libya — a nation torn by civil war and fragmented rule — as a new destination for deportees. At least one Mexican man being held in a Texas detention center was allegedly asked to sign paperwork approving his removal to the North African country, his relatives said. That man, Valentin Yah, is an Indigenous Mexican who served 15 years in a U.S. prison before entering immigration custody. He reportedly begged officials to return him to Mexico, just hours from where he’s being held, instead of Libya — thousands of miles away.
Rights advocates quickly filed emergency motions seeking to block the move, arguing it endangered vulnerable migrants from countries including Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, and Mexico. None of the migrants are Libyan nationals.
President Trump, when asked about the deportation flights, said only: “You’ll have to ask Homeland Security.” Neither the White House nor the Pentagon provided further comment.
The Libyan response was swift and unequivocal. Both the U.N.-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli and the rival Libyan National Army in the east rejected the idea of accepting U.S. deportees, citing sovereignty and a lack of coordination.
Meanwhile, critics pointed to the irony of the U.S. government condemning Libya’s human rights record in its own reports while simultaneously contemplating sending deportees there. The State Department had recently warned American citizens to avoid travel to Libya altogether, citing kidnapping, civil unrest, and warlord violence.
Still, the Trump administration has remained aggressive in expanding deportation tactics. Since January, over 150,000 people have been deported. Officials have floated sites like Guantanamo Bay and prisons in El Salvador as destinations, often to pressure migrants into “voluntary” departures. Secretary of State Marco Rubio even suggested that distance alone could be a virtue. “The further away from America, the better,” he quipped during a cabinet meeting.
But for now, the Libya plan is grounded.
Murphy’s ruling reaffirmed that due process and basic human rights can’t be sidestepped by playing jurisdictional shell games — no matter the political pressure or logistical creativity behind the scenes.
