Lawyers reported on Wednesday that US officials told some migrants they would be sent back to Libya. However, the migrants were not from Libya, and the country is known for not protecting human rights. A judge ruled that these people cannot be deported before they have the chance to argue against it in court.

This legal problem is happening because the Trump government wants to deport many immigrants. Sometimes they send them to a country they are not from. A very controversial example of this is sending people from Venezuela to a famous prison in El Salvador.

Sending people who are removed from the United States to Libya, a country where migrants are often treated badly, would be a big increase in the government's effort to get other countries to accept them.

On Wednesday, a US official said they planned to fly migrants to Libya using a military plane. But they didn't know the exact time of the flight. The official didn't want their name used because they were discussing military plans.

Immigration lawyers say some clients from countries like Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines were told by immigration officers they would be sent back to Libya or Saudi Arabia, but this was not true.

Immigration officers in southern Texas gathered six people they were holding on Tuesday and asked them to sign a paper agreeing to be sent back to Libya, according to reports from relatives and lawyers.

The lawyers wrote that when everyone said no, they were put in different rooms and had their hands tied so they would sign it.

In another case, a lawyer for a man from the Philippines told ICE in San Antonio that his client found out he would be sent to Libya. The lawyer wrote that his client "is afraid of being sent to Libya and needs to have an interview before he is sent away."

A judge says immigrants should have the chance to fight against being sent away.

The lawyers went to court on Wednesday to ask Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts for help. He has been in charge of a case against the Trump government about sending people to countries where they are not citizens.

In March, he ruled that people cannot be sent away from their country, even if they have used all their legal options, until they have a real chance to argue that it would be dangerous for them.

On Wednesday, he said that sending people to Libya very soon would clearly go against the Court's order. He also told the government to give details about the claims.

The government has sent Venezuelans to El Salvador. They have also sent people who were not from Panama or Costa Rica to those countries.

Sending someone to another country has caused many questions about fair legal treatment, especially for El Salvador, and if they will be harmed again.

The Trump administration said they are looking at sending people who are deported to other countries, not just the three in Central America. When asked on Wednesday if Libya was one of these countries, the administration did not say much.

President Donald Trump asked the Department of Homeland Security to answer questions. The head of the department said she could not confirm if there were plans to send people to Libya.

The government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, said on Wednesday that they had no agreement with the U.S. to accept migrants. But they also said that some other groups might have agreed to take them in.

That seems to be about the other government in eastern Libya. This government is led by a strong military leader named Khalifa Hifter. For many years, Libya has been divided into two parts, the east and the west. Each part has its own government, and these governments are supported by armed groups and other countries.

The army in eastern and southern Libya, led by Hifter, also said they had not agreed to take migrants from the U.S.

"Migrants will not be allowed into the areas controlled by the Libyan army, no matter the reason," it said.

Many reports show bad treatment of migrants held in Libya, and UN investigators found evidence of possible serious crimes, like murder, torture, and sexual violence.

Migrants told The Associated Press they were beaten and tortured many times while people asked their families for money. Their bodies had marks from injuries that happened before and recently, and also cuts from bullets and knives on their backs, legs, arms, and faces.