The United States is reportedly considering deporting migrants to Libya, according to three U.S. officials. This is despite Libya’s well-documented human rights abuses and the dire conditions experienced by detainees in the country. Now, the U.S. military may be tasked with transporting these migrants as soon as this week, though officials caution that plans may yet change.
We don’t know the exact number of migrants being eyed for this unprecedented move, nor their nationalities. The White House, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security have all remained mute on the issue. This silence, folks, is quite telling.
The U.S. State Department’s own human rights report last year lambasted Libya for “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions” and “arbitrary arrest or detention.” Yet, the Trump administration seems eager to increase its deportation count, currently standing at 152,000 as of Monday, according to the DHS.
The administration is not just focusing on deportation, but also on “encouraging” migrants to leave voluntarily. This encouragement takes the form of hefty fines, threats to legal status, and the prospect of being sent to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador. The message is clear: leave or suffer the consequences.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has gone on record saying the U.S. is unsatisfied with just sending migrants to El Salvador, and is actively seeking other countries for deportation. In his words, “And the further away from America, the better.”
A fourth U.S. official has revealed that the administration has been considering a number of countries for deportation, including Libya, for several weeks. It is unclear whether an agreement with Libyan authorities to accept deportees of other nationalities has been reached.
Libya has been in turmoil since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising. The country split in 2014 into eastern and western factions, each governed by rival administrations. Despite a U.N.-backed process installing a Government of National Unity under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in 2021, the Benghazi-based House of Representatives no longer recognizes its legitimacy.
The administration’s push to deport migrants to Libya, a country with a turbulent political landscape and a history of human rights abuses, is deeply flawed. It’s not just about the numbers; it’s about the fundamental principles of human dignity and respect for international law. The idea that this can be swept under the rug is a non-argument. It’s time for some intellectual consistency.
