Migrants in Texas, informed of their impending deportation to Libya, were left waiting for hours on a military airfield tarmac on Wednesday, uncertain of their fate, according to an attorney representing one of the individuals.
The lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, stated that his client, a Vietnamese construction worker residing in Los Angeles, was among those awakened in the early hours and transported by bus from an immigration detention center in Pearsall, Texas, to an airfield where a military aircraft awaited.
However, after several hours on the tarmac, the migrants were subsequently bused back to the detention facility around noon on Thursday, the attorney reported.
The Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and the State Department have not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the incident.
Reuters had previously reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was considering deporting migrants to Libya, a move that would significantly escalate his immigration crackdown, which has already faced legal challenges.
Earlier in the week, officials had indicated to Reuters that the U.S. military could potentially fly the migrants to the North African nation as early as Wednesday, while emphasizing that plans remained subject to change.
A U.S. official later confirmed to Reuters that the flight ultimately did not depart.
As of Friday, the administration’s plans regarding these deportations remained unclear.
A federal judge in Boston issued a ruling on Wednesday stating that any attempt by the Trump administration to deport non-Libyan migrants to Libya without proper screenings for potential persecution or torture would constitute a clear violation of a prior court order.
Lawyers representing a group of migrants involved in a class action lawsuit had filed an emergency request with the court shortly after news of the potential Libya flight emerged.
Nguyen, who declined to identify his client, revealed that the man was instructed on Monday to sign a document consenting to deportation to Libya.
The man, who has limited English literacy, refused to sign and was subsequently placed in solitary confinement and shackled along with four or five other individuals, according to the attorney.
Nguyen further stated that his client was never afforded the opportunity to express any fear of being deported to Libya, a safeguard mandated by federal immigration law and the recent judicial order.
“They said, ‘We’re deporting you to Libya,’ even though he hadn’t signed the form, he didn’t know what the form was,” Nguyen explained.
Nguyen added that his client, originally from Vietnam, has resided in the U.S. since the 1990s but was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year during a routine check-in.
Nguyen noted that Vietnam often declines to accept certain deportees and processes deportation paperwork slowly, which complicates the U.S.’s efforts to deport individuals to the country.
