Recent deportation flights that have taken migrants to the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador (pictured) and elsewhere have triggered legal challenges in federal courts. File Photo by Tia Dufour/U.S. Department of Homeland Security/UPI | License Photo
May 7 (UPI) — Officials in the Trump administration have proposed flying several deportees to Libya aboard a U.S. military aircraft as soon as Wednesday, several reports say.
The nationalities and number of those who would be deported to Libya are unknown, but a deportation flight to Libya might occur as soon as Wednesday, the New York Times, CBS News and NPR reported.
Deporting individuals to Libya, where they might be subjected to unpleasant conditions, supports President Donald Trump‘s encouragement for people to self-deport instead of waiting for the federal government to do so, the New York Times reported.
If a deportation flight does leave for Libya, it would herald an expansion of Trump’s controversial deportation policies to more nations and continents.
Recent deportation flights to El Salvador and elsewhere triggered legal challenges in federal courts and visits to El Salvador by members of Congress.
Opponents say people are being deported without due process and have accused the Trump administration of deporting U.S. citizens.
Officials in the Trump administration denied deporting U.S. citizens and have said those deported to El Salvador are members of violent gangs, such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13, which Trump has designated as terrorist organizations.
The State Department has warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Libya because of that nation’s “crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict,” the New York Times reported.
Libya has been divided since former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011.
Libya now has a U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli, which controls the western half of the nation.
The eastern half is controlled by warlord Khalifa Haftar from his headquarters in Benghazi.
Haftar controls most of Libya’s oil fields, and his son met with several officials in the Trump administration while visiting Washington, D.C., last week.
When asked about a potential deportation flight to Libya, Trump denied knowing anything about it and said the Department of Homeland Security handles such matters, NPR reported.