Judge blocks deportation flight of Asian migrants to Libya

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing migrants from being sent to Libya or any other third country after immigration attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday.

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing migrants from being sent to Libya or any other third country after immigration attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday.

The United States reportedly plans to send a group of migrants to Libya as early as this week. 

A U.S. military aircraft is expected to transport the migrants who are from the Philippines, Vietnam and Laos, among other countries, the motion said.

The plaintiffs are being set for removal “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,” according to the motion, which was filed in U.S District Court in Massachusetts. 

People walk around in Tripoli's Martyrs Square, Libya, on April 28, 2025. Mahmud Turkia / AFP - Getty Images fileIn one case, the attorneys said in the motion, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at a South Texas detention facility gathered several detainees in a room. The detainees were told that they needed to sign a document agreeing to be deported to Libya, the document said. When they refused, they were put in separate rooms, “cuffed in,” and forced to sign the document, the motion says.