The Tripoli Post
Washington— A number of detained migrants in Texas who were taken to an airport Wednesday and told they would be deported to Libya waited for hours on the bus and then sent back to the detention facility, said CNN. A United States official told Reuters on Thursday the flight never departed.
The case has not been closed yet but for Libyan officials in the east and the west of the country, and the public as well, the cancellation of the US military flight on Wednesday, if true, was a God given gift. It allowed them, at least temporarily, to take a deep sigh and cool down the controversy and the uncalled for internal political dispute over the issue.
Nonetheless, 112 members of the Libyan Parliament were rather bold on their opposition to the whole affair demanding on Thursday the Attorney General to hold accountable anyone proven to be involved in the scandal.
Libyan authorities had “categorically” rejected the very idea of deporting detainees of any nationality from the US to Libya. They stressed that there have been no agreements or understandings with any party regarding this issue.
The issue has already created much controversy and is further deepening the political crisis in Libya. It is expected to negatively affect efforts by the United Nations mission in Libya, UNSMIL, to reactivate the political process and pave the way to holding long-awaited general presidential and parliamentary elections.
On 8 May, 112 members of the House of Representatives signed a rather strong joint statement calling on the Attorney General to open an “urgent and transparent investigation” into media reports regarding the transfer of migrants from the US to Libya. They also demanded he hold accountable anyone proven to be involved or negligent in protecting Libyan sovereignty.”
The MPs also called on “all national political and military forces to take urgent and unified action to protect the nation from this systematic chaos, even if it requires the use of force.”
“Such an act [deporting migrants from US to Libya], which the relevant authorities have not categorically denied, represents a blatant violation of national sovereignty, an unacceptable violation of Libyan territory, and a disregard for its people and their history of combating tyranny and colonialism,” the statement added.
Deporting migrants to Libya, the MPs stressed, “exposes a hateful and racist colonialist outlook deeply rooted in the mindset of the US administration.” “No party, no matter how high its status or claim of legitimacy, has the right to accept or be involved in the introduction of elements that are legally and morally unacceptable to the country,” it added.
They noted that “anyone who colludes or contributes to this bears full legal and political responsibility, and their actions are considered high treason that requires accountability and prosecution without the slightest leniency.”
Responding to information cited by the CNN that “flight trackers show that a US Air Force C-17 has filed a plan to fly on Wednesday from Kelly Field in San Antonio to Misrata Airport in Libya,” the Misrata Municipality Council said it categorically rejected the move.
“The Misrata Municipal Council affirms its complete and categorical rejection of the resettlement of displaced persons in Libya in any form and under any circumstances,” the council said in a statement, urging citizens not to drag the city’s name into these conflicts “as this distorts the historical heritage and sows discord, anxiety, and tension among citizens.”
“The issue of bringing migrants from the United States to Libya and entering them through one of the country’s official ports violates Libyan sovereignty as a state, and under no circumstances should one city bear the brunt of its negative consequences and repercussions,” it added.
Nevertheless, along with the strong Libyan refusal to accept the deportees, a US federal judge in Boston ruled on Wednesday “any efforts by the Trump administration to deport non-Libyan migrants to Libya without adequate screenings for possible persecution or torture would clearly violate a prior court order,” as cited by Reuters on Friday.
The ruling came after a number of lawyers made an emergency request to the court on the behalf of Filipino, Laotian and Vietnamese migrants. Several hours later, the deportees were bused back to the detention center around noon on Wednesday. In many ways,
According to Reuters, attorney Tin Thanh Nguyen said his client, a Vietnamese construction worker from Los Angeles, was among the migrants woken in the early morning hours and bused from an immigration detention center in Pearsall, Texas, to an airfield where a military aircraft awaited them.
While the CNN said on Friday that attorney Johnny Sinodis, based in San Francisco, told the network that his unnamed Filipino client 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.
As of Friday, it was unclear if the Trump administration was still planning to proceed with the deportations. When asked about the planned deportations, President Donald Trump said he did not know whether they were happening.
“You’ll have to ask Homeland Security,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, according to Reuters. It also said that the Pentagon referred queries to the White House, but the White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment, it added.
A State Department spokesperson also told Reuters: “We do not discuss the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”
Last week, CNN said it reached out to a Libyan official who was in Washington for comment on the deportation plans, he and the State Department said the meetings were not about deportations.
“Deporting migrants to Libya was never discussed. This did not happen. Everything we talked about was as published on the official agenda,” a Libyan official said as cited by CNN.
