'Whoa': Trump stuns immigration attorney as he eyes 'unprecedented' move for deportations
An immigration expert was taken aback by a CNN report that the Trump administration is looking beyond El Salvador for a "safe third country" to ship undocumented migrants.
CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez posted to X on Wednesday afternoon, "Trump admin has discussed with Libya and Rwanda the possibility of sending migrants who have criminal records to those two countries, sources tell me + @kylieatwood. Trump officials are also hoping to enter negotiations with Libya to strike a safe third country agreement."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration lawyer and senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, responded, "Whoa. Using Libya and Rwanda as a deportation spot for people from the Western Hemisphere would be unprecedented, and declaring LIBYA a 'safe third country' to deport asylum seekers to would be the height of absurdity."
Libya remains dangerously unstable due to "political divisions and cascading security crises," since the United States helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, according to Global Conflict Tracker.
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The Trump administration has shipped hundreds of migrants to El Salvador under a deal with dictator President Nayib Bukele, who actually questioned whether deportees being flown to his notorious Cecot prison were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang, according to The New York Times.
Bukele had agreed to house "only what he called 'convicted criminals' in the prison. However, many of the Venezuelan men labeled gang members and terrorists by the U.S. government had not been tried in court," the report said.
Attorneys have challenged the Trump administration's failure to give migrants and even student protesters their constitutional due process, with one judge ordering the release Wednesday of a Palestinian college student from Columbia University.
Trump and his Cabinet shared a laugh on Wednesday when the president claimed, "We're having a little difficulty" with judges getting on board with his deportation program.
"We're having some judges that don't like, you know, killers, murderers, being thrown out of the country. So, I don't know what their problem is, but we have a little difficulty," Trump said.