Lawyers said on Wednesday that US officials told some migrants they planned to send them back to Libya. The migrants are not from Libya, and the country has a history of human rights problems. A judge said they cannot be sent back without a chance to argue against it in court.

The Trump administration is trying to deport many people, which is causing legal problems. They are also trying to send migrants to countries where they are not citizens. A very controversial example of this is sending Venezuelans to a well-known prison in El Salvador.

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

An American official said on Wednesday that there were plans to fly migrants to Libya on a military plane. However, he did not know the exact time of the flight. The official did not want to give his name because he was talking about military plans.

Immigration lawyers say some of their clients, like people from Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines, were told by immigration officers that they would be sent to Libya. They also said some clients were told they would go to Saudi Arabia.

Immigration officers in south Texas told six people they were holding on Tuesday morning to sign a paper saying they agreed to be sent back to Libya. Lawyers for people from Vietnam said this in court, based on what the families of the people being held told them.

The lawyers wrote that when everyone refused, they were put in separate rooms with handcuffs on to make them sign it.

Another lawyer wrote to ICE because his client from the Philippines was told he would be sent to Libya. The lawyer wrote that his client was afraid of going to Libya and needed to have an interview before being sent there.

The judge said that immigrants should have the chance to argue against being sent away.

The lawyers went to court on Wednesday, asking Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts to get involved. Judge Murphy has been managing a case against the Trump government because it was sending people back to countries where they were not citizens.

He decided in March that people cannot be sent away from their home country until they have a real chance to explain that it would be dangerous for them, even if they have no other legal options left.

On Wednesday, he said that sending anyone to Libya 'very soon' would 'definitely go against this Court's Order.' He also told the government to provide details about the claims.

Besides sending Venezuelans to El Salvador, the government has also sent people to Panama and Costa Rica, even though they were not from those countries.

Sending someone to a foreign country has led to many questions about fair treatment, especially for El Salvador, and if they will be harmed again.

The Trump government has said it is looking into sending people to other countries, not just those three in Central America.

President Donald Trump asked the Department of Homeland Security about this issue. The head of the department, Kristi Noem, said she could not confirm that there were plans to send people to Libya.

The government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, stated on Wednesday that they had no agreement or cooperation with the U.S. about accepting migrants. But they mentioned that some other groups might have agreed to accept them.

It seems to be talking about the other government in eastern Libya, which is controlled by the strong military leader Khalifa Hifter. For many years, Libya has been divided between two governments, one in the east and one in the west. Each government is supported by armed groups and other countries.

The Libya National Army, led by Hifter, also put out a statement. They said they had not made any agreement to take migrants from the U.S.

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

There is a lot of evidence of bad treatment of migrants who are kept in prisons in Libya. UN investigators think that serious crimes might have happened, like murder, torture, being forced to work, illegal killings, and sexual violence.

Migrants told The Associated Press they were often beaten and hurt, and people asked their families for money. Their bodies had signs of old and new injuries, like marks from bullets and knives on their backs, legs, arms, and faces.