A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can’t fly migrants from San Antonio’s Kelly Field to Libya — a country with a well-documented history of civil-rights violations — without first letting those targeted contest their deportation in court, the Associated Press reports.
A U.S. official told the AP the immigration authorities planned to fly migrants to Libya on a military C-17 cargo plane but didn’t have details on the flight’s timing.
However, flight trackers indicate an Air Force C-17 filed plans to depart Wednesday from San Antonio’s Kelly Field to Misrata Airport in Libya, according to CNN. In recent months, the White House has repeatedly used the large military cargo aircraft to deport migrants to other countries.
Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy intervened Wednesday after being petitioned by immigration attorneys who alleged the feds told their clients they would be deported from detention in South Texas to Libya or Saudi Arabia — countries they’re not originally from, according to the AP. The clients reportedly included people from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines.
Murphy has been overseeing one of the many lawsuits against the Trump White House over its controversial practice of sending migrants to countries where they aren’t citizens. The highest-profile of those cases revolve around the government’s delivery of Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
In March, Murphy ruled that even if people caught in Trump’s immigration sweep have exhausted their legal appeals, they can’t be deported to a country other than their homeland until they receive a “meaningful opportunity” to argue the relocation would jeopardize their safety, the AP reports.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the judge said any “allegedly imminent” deportations to Libya would “clearly” run afoul of his earlier order, according to the wire service. Additionally, he ordered the government to turn over details about the cases.
Directing migrant deportations to Libya is an apparent escalation of Trump’s deportation policies.
The politically divided North African country is sliding back toward civil war, and observers have documented abuse of prisoners. Indeed, United Nations investigators have collected accounts of “murder, torture, enslavement, extrajudicial killings and rape” among migrants detained there, according to a separate AP report.
Further, the State Department’s own website warns U.S. citizens against traveling to Libya. “Do not travel to Libya due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict,” it reads.
When CNN asked President Donald Trump about the Wednesday’s possible deportation flight, he responded, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Homeland Security.”
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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.
