Federal judge temporarily blocks deportation of illegal Asian migrants to Libya

A federal judge on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the Trump administration from deporting illegal Asian migrants to the African country of Libya, or any other third world country.

The move comes after lawyers filed an emergency motion earlier in the day, seeking to stop the deportations that were reportedly scheduled for sometime this week. The Trump administration has not formally commented on the plans.

The lawyers claimed that the migrants, who came from Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam, among other places, were expected to be loaded onto a U.S. military aircraft and transported to Libya, according to NBC News.

The court document, which was filed in the U.S District Court in Massachusetts, also said the migrants were being deported “without any reasonable fear screening, let alone a fifteen-day window to file a motion to reopen with the immigration court to contest any negative reasonable fear determination."

The development comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the administration was "actively searching for other countries" to send illegal migrants to.

“We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries,’” Rubio said. “‘Will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away the better, so they can’t come back across the border.”

Libya has denied discussions with the U.S. about taking in migrants, and said it rejects the U.S. deporting migrants there without its knowledge or consent. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.