Judge Brian Murphy ruled that the deportations would contravene his previous order, which guarantees migrants sent to third countries the opportunity to challenge their removal and demonstrate risk of persecution.

Murphy’s ruling was in response to an emergency motion filed by lawyers for migrants from the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam, who claimed they were in “imminent” danger of being deported to Libya.

Asked about the report on Wednesday during an event at the White House, President Donald Trump said he was unaware.

Trump based his presidential campaign on a promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants and invoked a wartime law in March to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.

abo/arm/npg/asg/li