By Wilnard Bacelonia
MANILA – Senate President Francis Escudero on Thursday condemned a reported plan by US immigration authorities to deport undocumented Asian nationals, including Filipinos, to Libya, calling the move cruel and a violation of basic human rights.
“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,” Escudero said in a news release
The Senate leader expressed alarm over the policy’s implications, citing Libya’s volatile security environment and long-documented abuses against detainees.
Human rights groups and several foreign governments have likewise condemned the plan, which they warn could place migrants in grave danger.
A US federal judge has halted the deportation of Asian nationals to Libya, noting that such a transfer could violate an earlier court order allowing the migrants to contest their removal to a third country.
Escudero urged Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez to immediately verify the status of all Filipinos at risk of deportation and ensure they are provided legal assistance.
“If the United States wants to deport our citizens, then we are willing to welcome our kababayan (countrymen) back. There is absolutely no need for this cruelty to export them to a third country,” he 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,” he added. (PNA)
