U.S. PLAN TO SEND PINOYS FACING DEPORTATION TO LIBYA ‘CRUEL’– ESCUDERO

SENATE President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero has denounced a reported plan by the United States to send Asian immigrants, including Filipinos, facing deportation to Libya, saying “exporting” them to a third country would be “cruel.”

American immigration authorities have started expelling millions of undocumented immigrants as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to the American people, and this latest report of sending Asian nationals to war-torn Libya which has a history of harsh treatment against detainees, has generated strong condemnation among human rights groups and foreign governments.

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the deportation proceedings of Asian migrants bound for Libya on grounds that such move would violate his earlier order allowing them to challenge their removal for a country other than their own.

“Filipinos are not camels to be dumped on some Libyan desert. They are human beings who deserve to be accorded all the rights by a state who claim to cherish and uphold them,” Senate President Escudero said.

He called on Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez to check on the status of all Filipinos scheduled for deportation or transfer to other states and extend legal assistance if necessary to “ensure that the rights of those facing legal troubles are protected and that they will not be forced to endure possible persecution in countries with a history of human rights violations.”

“If the United States wants to deport our citizens, then we are willing to welcome our kababayan back. There is absolutely no need for this cruelty to export them to a third country,” the Senate chief said.

“Dignified repatriation of our brothers and sisters is all we seek, not some rendition to an offshore penitentiary in a country which does not want them,” Escudero added.