CNN
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In the early morning hours of Wednesday, a group of detained migrants were bused from a facility in Texas to a base where a military aircraft awaited them – at least one of them had been told he was destined for Libya, according to an account shared with his attorney.
Johnny Sinodis, an attorney based in San Francisco, told CNN his Filipino client, who he didn’t name due to privacy concerns, had been told Monday evening that he would be deported to Libya, raising alarm and leading him to try to understand why a migrant from the Philippines would be removed to a country in North Africa.
Sinodis said his client had a removal order to the Philippines and anticipated being deported there in late April. That same month, he was moved to two detention facilities in Texas, ultimately being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center and expecting to be removed to his native country. But early Wednesday, that appeared to take a turn.
Sinodis’ client, along with 12 other detainees, were loaded onto a big white bus, according to the account shared with Sinodis. They were taken to what his client described as a military plane and waited on the bus for hours.
Eventually, the bus started rolling back to the detention facility, without explanation. Sinodis told CNN he’s since been in touch with his client and tried to reach Immigration and Customs Enforcement for explanation.
The military plane that was scheduled to bring migrants to Libya on Wednesday never departed, according to flight trackers and a defense official. Instead, the plane flew to Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, the defense official said. It held only military personnel being repositioned to the island after the Libya flight was canceled.
The Trump administration appeared to be moving forward with plans Wednesday to send migrants to Libya, though the White House declined to comment on the flight plans. CNN first reported the administration was communicating with Libya to have the country take migrants from the United States.
The episode reveals new details about how preparations unfolded for the migrants believed to be destined for Libya, including the lead up and abrupt fallout, as told by a migrant to his attorney moments after.
The decision to send migrants to Libya, a country the United Nations has previously criticized for its harsh treatment of migrants, is a further escalation of President Donald Trump’s hardline deportation policies – which have faced widespread political and legal backlash.
Amid reports that a plane was positioned to depart, which the Libyan government disputed, a federal judge warned the administration it could violate his previous order if proper protocol wasn’t followed.
The Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement that it “categorically denies any agreement or coordination with US authorities regarding the deportation of migrants to Libya.”
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment.
Immigrant advocacy groups filed an emergency motion Wednesday to block the removal of any migrants to Libya, citing media reports and accounts from attorneys with clients believed to be manifested for the deportation flight.
Last month, Judge Brian Murphy temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting people to countries other than their own without first providing notice and an opportunity to contest it. The groups, which brought the lawsuit in Massachusetts earlier this year, argued Wednesday the government didn’t follow those procedures.
“Late last night and earlier this morning, alarming reports from class members’ counsel and from the press emerged announcing the imminent removal of, inter alia, Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine class members being prepared for removal to Libya, a county notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents. Class members were being scheduled for removal despite not receiving the required notice and opportunity to apply for (UN Convention against Torture) protection,” the filing said.
The groups asked the court for an immediate order restraining flights carrying migrants to Libya or any other third country and if necessary, to order the return of those removed, according to the filing. Sinodis’ client was cited in the filing.
Murphy quickly weighed in.
He issued an order the same day clarifying that deporting migrants to Libya or Saudia Arabia, as reported in the media, would violate his previous order if they were not provided written notice and an opportunity to contest ahead of time.
“The Department of Homeland Security may not evade this injunction by ceding control over non-citizens or the enforcement of its immigration responsibilities to any other agency, including but not limited to the Department of Defense,” Murphy wrote.
“If there is any doubt—the Court sees none—the allegedly imminent removals, as reported by news agencies and as Plaintiffs seek to corroborate with class-member accounts and public information, would clearly violate this Court’s Order,” he concluded.
