Good God.
The United States finds itself teetering on the brink of a moral abyss, and we seem poised to plunge over the edge. The Trump administration is currently in power.
planning
To move migrants using U.S. military aircraft to detention facilities located in a region controlled by warlords within Libya—a choice that underscores how drastically we have diverged from our core principles and fundamental humanitarian standards.
If this surprises you, it definitely should. This week brought the revelation that the government plans to transport migrants to Libya using military aircraft starting as soon as Friday. This move goes beyond typical day-to-day political drama—it marks yet another step in an ongoing campaign of intentional harshness that started back when Donald Trump was first elected president.
The timing is no coincidence. Just last week, Saddam Haftar — yes, that’s his actual name — the son of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar,
visited
In Washington, he met with Trump advisers such as Massad Boulos (father-in-law of Tiffany Trump) at the State Department. The younger Haftar leads the ground forces for eastern Libya and speaks on behalf of his father’s “Libyan National Army” militia.
This isn’t even the official government of Libya that the Trump family is doing business with; it’s the half of the country that’s run by a warlord who the UN doesn’t recognize!
But let’s back up and ask the most fundamental question: Why the hell are we sending immigrants to prison at all, instead of simply deporting them back to their countries of origin like Obama did?
Illegally crossing the border is
primarily
It’s a civil infraction rather than a criminal act deserving jail time. They’re not violent offenders; these individuals are looking for protection, employment, or a more prosperous existence. Some were essentially escaping with their lives. However, instead of handling them through standard deportation protocols, Trump is establishing an unofficial penal framework beyond typical judicial scrutiny. Why would he do this?
The response seems to mirror much within this administration, pointing to a harmful mixture of financial gain, political strategy, and deliberate harshness.
When Trump began sending migrants to El Salvador’s well-known CECOT detention center early this year, he and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed on a $6 million deal to hold approximately 300 migrants there for one year. Currently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is publicly addressing the matter.
boasting
regarding the administration’s attempts to locate additional countries that would be willing to detain migrants.
“Follow the money” remains sound counsel in Washington. It is not merely happenstance that this Libyan deportation plan emerged right after Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s trip to Washington. The Trump clan has maintained cordial ties with the warlord Haftar’s administration ever since President Trump’s initial term. During that time, he surprised many diplomats by offering Khalifa Haftar his backing via a telephone call in 2017 which entirely
contradicted
The official stance of both the State Department and the United Nations.
“I say this without apology,” Rubio
declared
At a recent Cabinet meeting, they stated, “We are currently looking for other nations willing to accept individuals from third countries. We are collaborating with these countries to ask, ‘Can we transfer some of the worst offenders among humans to your territories—would you be able to accommodate them as an act of goodwill towards us?’”
Take a moment to consider this: The person responsible for our nation’s foreign relations is openly characterizing migrants—individuals who often haven’t broken any laws except perhaps entering the country unlawfully—as “the lowest form of people.” Such degrading rhetoric isn’t random; it serves a purpose. By depicting these individuals as less than human, it paves the way for Americans to condone harsher treatments toward immigrants, justifying their suffering.
Here is where the harsh truth about warlord-controlled Libyan detention centers comes into view, adding another layer of distress.
Human rights organizations have
documented
Terrible conditions have persisted in Libya’s migrant detention centers for years. Since the 2011 revolution, the nation has been in disarray due to competing governments and militia groups struggling for dominance. Eastern regions are under Haftar’s control, whereas the west—including Tripoli—is managed by the internationally acknowledged Government of National Accord. Those trapped within this framework endure immense hardship.
What are these locations like? Amnesty International has
documented
“extreme physical abuse, sexual assault, blackmail, compulsory work, and degrading circumstances” within these detention centers. Inmates recount experiences of starvation, torment, and coercion. There are records showing guards firing at inmates recreationally, leading to fatalities and wounds. Female prisoners have shared accounts of being pressured into sexual acts as barter for sustenance or assurances of liberty.
The State Department’s own
annual report
— Yes, OUR country’s official report — outlined conditions in Libya’s detention centers as “severe and potentially deadly,” where migrants lacked “access to immigration courts or fair procedures.” Médecins Sans Frontières has also noted this issue.
documented
female detainees being told by guards, “You’re going to die here.”
These aren’t exaggerations or hysterical claims from the left. These are documented realities from respected international organizations, the State Department, and the United Nations. And this administration damn well knows it.
Libya’s detention facilities are managed by numerous private militia groups within a fragmented nation lacking a cohesive central government. Certain centers are
essentially criminal enterprises
operated by human smugglers. Migrants often find themselves detained for ransom; those who cannot afford to pay may be executed. Numerous locations have turned into centers for coerced labor, assaults, sexual violence, torture, and killings.
This is the system through which the Trump administration intends to send individuals who arrived in America in search of security and prosperity. But why? Could it be for some favorable arrangement with the Haftar regime, which oversees much of Libya’s petroleum wealth?
And now we’re receiving reports that ICE is
locking immigrants in solitary
imprisonment as a penalty for refusing to sign an agreement consenting to deportation to one of those Libyan detention centers known as “hellholes.”
As Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA)
told Raw Story
:
It is profoundly upsetting and troubling to consider a scenario where our nation might choose to deport individuals not to their countries of origin, which should be their homeland, but rather to the most horrific locations possible as a form of punishment.
Why is all of this occurring? This is because it is like this.
continuation
of the strategy first employed by Trump and his immigration architect Stephen Miller during the previous Trump administration, when they deliberately separated children from their parents at the border. The calculation was brutally simple: If America becomes known for extreme cruelty toward migrants, fewer people will attempt to come here.
It’s about deterring through horror. The approach states, “By inflicting immense agony upon these individuals, we’ll instill fear so profound in others that they will refrain from emulating this behavior.”
But here’s what these sadistic bastards don’t get: this strategy doesn’t just harm migrants. It corrupts America’s soul. It transforms us from a nation that, despite our many failings, at least aspired to ideals of human dignity and justice, into one that purposefully inflicts suffering as policy.
As President Biden would say, “This is not who we are.” Except now, under Trump, it apparently is.
And don’t fall for their justifications. The administration claims they’re only targeting “criminals” and “gang members.” But we’ve already seen that this is false. Kilmar Abrego Garcia and a young man known in court only as “Cristian” were among those deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
According to their families and lawyers, their “crimes” amounted to having tattoos that authorities associated with gang membership. Federal judges
ordered
Both men went back to the U.S., yet they stay incarcerated.
Let’s get right to it: The policy implemented by Trump and Miller regarding widespread detainment isn’t really about ensuring safety or security. Instead, it aims at punishing people, deterring others, and showcasing cruelty as a means to achieve political gains—much like how some authoritarian regimes operate globally.
And cruelty inflicted like this, now “limited” to immigrants, rarely stays limited; what Trump and the GOP do to the least of us, history says, they’ll ultimately do to all of us.
So, why is nobody discussing the funds? These deals channel millions of dollars into the pockets of private detention firms and overseas administrations. Who stands to gain from this? Track down where the money is going.
When Trump and Bukele made their $6 million agreement for El Salvador to hold back migrants, what happened to that money? Who benefited from it?
stands to profit
From similar agreements with Libya, Rwanda, and other nations said to be in discussions with the administration?
There’s more than meets the eye regarding the timing of the Trump administration’s decision to send migrants to Libya’s notorious detention centers, coming shortly after they met with the son of Libyan strongman General Haftar at the White House.
stated reason
For that meeting, Libya “would be better situated to interact with the United States and U.S. corporations,” which implies securing additional oil contracts and business opportunities. (Notably, Warlord Haftar currently has control over most of Libya’s oil wells.) Draw your own conclusions!
These “deportation partnerships” signify an alarming privatization and globalization of immigrant detention, shifting it away from public oversight and constitutional safeguards. This leads to the establishment of a covert system wherein fundamental human rights and fair procedures can be readily overlooked.
It’s not just affecting “them”; it’s impacting us too. Each instance where we permit our government to view individuals as expendable erodes our shared sense of humanity. Whenever we disregard harsh policies simply because they seem unrelated to people similar to ourselves, we gradually undermine the ethical principles that safeguard everyone.
Make no mistake: this perilous descent is both real and risky. The Trump administration has hinted at the possibility of imprisoning American citizens overseas. During talks with El Salvador’s leader the previous month, Trump was heard remarking, “We’re going after the homegrown ones next, the homegown ones. You’ve got to construct around five additional facilities.”
Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor
warned
The administration’s legal arguments imply that the U.S. government thinks it could expel and detain anyone, including American citizens, without facing legal repercussions, provided a court has not yet intervened.
This should terrify
every
Americans, irrespective of their political leanings, have learned from history that when we construct systems granting unbridled authority and harshness aimed at the most marginalized groups, these systems tend not to stay limited to their initial intended victims.
What actions can we take then?
Initially, we need to challenge the acceptance of brutality.
Contact your congressional representatives immediately and urge them to reject these deportation plans. Call for hearings, inquiries, and new laws aimed at cutting off financial support for such initiatives.
Second, support the legal challenges already underway.
The
ACLU and other organizations
are contesting these deportations in court. They require our active vocal and financial backing.
Third, maintain visibility on this issue.
Share accurate information about these detention centers and what’s happening to the people sent there. Don’t let this fade from public consciousness in the endless churn of outrages.
Fourth, demand transparency.
Where is the money going? What are the terms of the agreements with warlord Haftar’s regime? Who’s profiting? What oversight exists to ensure humane treatment?
And finally, remember this: America is better than this. We’ve lost our way before, and we’ve found our way back. From the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to the separation of families at the border in 2018, we have periodically succumbed to our worst instincts. But we have also, eventually, recognized our errors and sought to correct them.
The question now is how much suffering we’ll allow before that correction begins. How many people will be condemned to Libya’s hellish prisons — run by a warlord whose son was just welcomed at the State Department — before we say, “Enough is enough”?
Call your representatives today: 202-224-3121. Tell them America doesn’t torture people to send a message. Tell them we are better than this.
Because if we aren’t, what exactly are we defending in this land of the free?
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