Lawyers said on Wednesday that U.S. officials told some migrants they would be sent 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 unless they have a chance to argue against it in court.

This legal problem is happening because the Trump government wants to deport many people. They are even sending people to countries where they are not citizens. For example, a very unpopular action has been sending people from Venezuela to a well-known prison in El Salvador.

Sending people who are being deported to Libya, a country known for treating migrants badly, would be a big step up in the government's plan for other countries to take people who are being removed from the United States.

A US official said on Wednesday that they planned to fly migrants to Libya using a military plane. But he didn't have the exact time for the C-17 flight. The official didn't want his name used because he was talking about military actions.

Lawyers who help immigrants 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.

Immigration officers in southern Texas reportedly told six people they were holding to sign a paper agreeing to be sent back to Libya. This information comes from lawyers representing people from Vietnam, who heard it from the families of those being held.

When they all said no, they were put in separate rooms and kept alone to make them sign it, the lawyers wrote.

In another case, a lawyer for a man from the Philippines wrote to ICE in San Antonio. He said his client had discovered he would be sent to Libya. The lawyer wrote that his client "is afraid of being sent to Libya and so should have an interview before this happens."

The judge says immigrants must have a chance to argue against being deported.

The lawyers went to court on Wednesday and asked Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts to help. Judge Murphy is managing a legal case against the Trump government because they were sending people to countries where they were not citizens.

In March, he decided 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 say that it would be dangerous for them.

On Wednesday, he said sending people to Libya would "clearly break the Court's Order." He also asked the government to give details about the cases.

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

Sending people to other countries has raised questions about fair treatment, especially in El Salvador, and if they will be harmed again.

The Trump administration said it was looking at sending people who came into the country illegally 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 (DHS) to answer questions. The head of the DHS, Kristi Noem, said at a news conference in Illinois that she could not say if media reports about sending people to Libya were true.

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

This seems to be about the other government in east Libya, which is controlled by the powerful military leader Khalifa Hifter. For many years, Libya has been divided between two governments, one in the east and one in the west, and armed groups and foreign countries support each one.

The army led by Hifter, which controls eastern and southern Libya, also put out a statement. They said they had not made any agreement to take migrants from the U.S.

It said that migrants will not be allowed into areas controlled by the Libyan army, no matter why they are coming.

Many reports show that migrants held in Libya have been treated badly. UN investigators say they have found proof of serious crimes, like murder, torture, and rape, which could be crimes against humanity.

Migrants told The Associated Press they were often beaten and hurt while their families were asked for money.