Asian and Mexican migrants nearly deported to Libya saved by last-minute court ruling

In a harrowing pre-dawn operation, 13 detainees — including individuals from the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, and Mexico — were woken up at 2:30 a.m. by armed officers in tactical gear and told they were being deported to Libya.

"They were processed, shackled, and put on a bus to a military airstrip," said Johnny Sinodis, an attorney for one of the detainees, a Filipino man who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns.

The flight, however, never departed. After waiting for hours near the aircraft, the detainees were returned to the Texas detention facility and placed in solitary confinement.

It wasn't until later that attorneys informed them that a federal judge had enforced a previous injunction halting deportations to third countries without proper legal procedures.

Legal battle and human rights concerns

Attorney Tin Nguyen, representing a Vietnamese detainee, said that some migrants had been pressured to sign documents authorizing their deportation to Libya — in English, without translation.

"He didn't read the document. He can't read English and it wasn't translated in Vietnamese," Nguyen explained.

"So he refused to sign. And because he refused to sign, he was separated from the other folks."

The deportation plan sparked fierce criticism due to Libya's human rights record.

"Libya or El Salvador or Rwanda… it's very scary for people," Nguyen said. "People don't know anything about these countries, and what they have heard about them is very terrifying."

A 2023 UN report described widespread crimes against migrants in Libya, including torture, rape, and enslavement.

Libya's own government denied any agreement with the US to accept deportees, further complicating the legality and logistics of the attempted removal.

Although this deportation was stopped, advocates warn that without policy change, similar efforts could return at any moment.