A govt filing indicated that #DHS did not “direct” Dept of #Defense to fly the plane to #ElSalvador. [to evade a #CourtOrder enjoining the DHS from further #deportations to El Salvador]

Reuters report: #US may soon deport migrants to #Libya on #military flight, sources say - https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-may-soon-deport-migrants-libya-military-flight-sources-say-2025-05-07/

The planned use of a #military plane for the flight to #Libya comes after the #Defense Dept has assisted in transporting migrants to locations such as #India, #Guatemala & #Ecuador.

In late March, #DOD ofcls flew a group of #Venezuelan migrants to #ElSalvador without any staff from #DHS on the plane, acc/to court records. The flight took off from #GuantánamoBay, Cuba, to El Salvador & included 4 Venezuelans.

After the #UnitedStates struck a deal w/ #ElSalvador to take #Venezuelan migrants & imprison them, Secretary of #State #MarcoRubio said he was working to secure similar agreements w/additional nations.

“I intend to continue to try & identify other countries willing to accept & jail as many *gang* members as we can send them,” #Rubio told NYT.

Around the same time, #US officials also deported a group of around 200 migrants to #CostaRica from countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, including #Iran. A lawsuit filed against the country argued that the #deportations & subsequent #detention in Costa Rica “could cause irreparable harm” for a group of #children sent to the country.

Earlier this year, the #Trump admin deported several hundred people to #Panama from countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, including #Iran & #China. The migrants, who said they did not know where they were going, were detained in a hotel for several days before being taken to a camp near the jungle. Some of the migrants were later released from Panamanian custody.

#Amnest International branded those sites “horrific” & “a hellscape” in a 2021 report, which found evidence of “#SexualViolence, against men, women & children.” The Global Detention Project says detained migrants in #Libya endure “physical mistreatment & #torture,” forced labor & even #slavery.

The #US has formal relations only w/the #Tripoli government. But Haftar’s son, Saddam, was in Washington last week, & met w/several #Trump admin ofcls. Trump had friendly dealings in his first term w/Haftar, who controls most of #Libya’s lucrative #oil fields.

A major transit point for Europe-bound migrants, Libya operates numerous detention facilities for refugees & migrants.

The planning for the flight to #Libya has been tightly held, & could still be derailed by logistical, legal or diplomatic obstacles.

The potential use of Libya as a destination comes after the #Trump admin set off an earlier furor by deporting a group of #Venezuelans to #ElSalvador, where they are being held in a maximum-security prison designed for terrorists.

The #Libya operation falls in line w/the #Trump admin’s effort to not only deter migrants from trying to enter the country illegally but also to send a strong message to those in the country illegally that they can be deported to countries where they could face brutal conditions. Reuters earlier reported the possibility of a US #deportation flight to Libya.

#Ukraine has not accepted any 3rd-party nationals from the #US, & there is no indication that Kyiv seriously considered the American proposal. 2 Ukrainian ofcls familiar w/the matter…said the topic never reached the government’s highest level. One of the ofcls said he was unaware of any “political demands” made by the US regarding its desire for Ukraine to take in deportees.

Homan insisted that the #Trump admin doesn’t “deport US #citizen #children,” emphasizing instead that the mothers may have wanted to take the children w/them when facing #deportation. If someone chooses to come to the US without the proper documentation & have a child, Homan said, “that’s on you, that’s not on this administration.” Having a child in the United States “is not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” he added.

#law #immigration #Rendition #Constitution #DueProcess #CivilRights #Judiciary

Speaking to CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Homan said Sunday that he’s not aware of any specifics in the case of the 4-yr-old citizen w/ #cancer, but he dismissed the use of the word “deported” to describe the removal of the American children from the country.

“No #UScitizen child was deported,” Homan said. “Deported means ordered by an immigration judge.”

The #US govt has never released data on how many US #citizens have been wrongfully detained or deported by #ICE. But independent investigations have revealed that ICE has arrested, detained, deported & issued detainers—requests to local jails to hold a person in custody—for thousands of citizens since the agency’s creation in 2003.

“I don’t know how much more of a blatant or clear constitutional violation there can be than deporting #US #citizens without #DueProcess,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the #ACLU of Louisiana. “Especially with some of those citizens being the most vulnerable of all vulnerable, #children, & not just any children, children with #medical conditions that are dire.”

That’s in some tension with the result: that they were sent to a prison that is neither in the #US nor their country of origin with NO CHARGES & no clear #legal #authority justifying their continued, indefinite detention. The US govt is paying #ElSalvador to hold them.

The cases present a kafkaesque situation. The govt did not remove these #Venezuelans under the wartime #AlienEnemiesAct, which the #Trump admin argued allowed it to send people to #CECOT absent #DueProcess, an argument #SCOTUS would later reject. Rather, the admin has contended in court filings that these individuals were sent to #ElSalvador under the #Immigration & Nationality Act [#INA].

In these cases, the #Trump admin invoked standard #immigration authority to hold #Venezuelans indefinitely in #CECOT, a Salvadoran detention facility notorious for allegations of forced labor [#slavery] & #torture. The move, done under a bilateral agreement with #ElSalvador, has left detainees incommunicado & held WITHOUT CHARGE — & their families & attorneys fighting for their release.

That, at least, is what federal ofcls contend: while the #Trump admin invoked the #AlienEnemiesAct to dubiously justify sending 137 detainees to #ElSalvador, >100 others that day had received standard, *lawful* #deportation orders—often to Venezuela—from #immigration courts.