The President of the Philippine Senate, Francis Escudero, has strongly condemned an alleged US plan to deport Asian migrants, including Filipinos, to Libya. He described the move as a “cruel act” and urged the United States to treat Filipino nationals with dignity.
“Filipinos are not camels to be thrown into the Libyan desert,” Escudero said, according to a statement published on the official Senate website. “They are human beings who deserve full rights from a country that claims to care for and support them.”
Escudero insisted that if the US wished to deport Filipino nationals, they should be repatriated directly to the Philippines. “There is absolutely no need for such cruelty by exporting them to a third country,” he said. “All we ask is for our brothers and sisters to return home with dignity, not to be handed over to a foreign prison in a country that does not want them.”
The Senate highlighted strong condemnation from human rights organisations and foreign governments over reported US immigration actions targeting millions of undocumented migrants, including Asians. The statement referred to Libya as a “war-torn nation with a record of harsh treatment of detainees.”
A federal judge in the US has temporarily halted the deportation of Asian migrants to Libya, citing a prior ruling that gives migrants the right to challenge their transfer to a third country.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that a lawyer representing a Filipino migrant said his client was verbally informed of his planned deportation to Libya, though no written notice was provided.
Former President Donald Trump has pledged to remove undocumented migrants with criminal records, and several US media outlets have reported plans to transfer some to third countries such as Libya.
