President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared unaware that his administration was planning to deport immigrants to Libya, a country plagued by armed conflict and brutal human rights violations, despite reports revealing as much more than a week ago.
CNN cited unnamed sources last month who said the Trump administration has discussed transporting asylum-seekers taken into custody at the U.S. border to Libya. Three officials said Tuesday that the U.S. could start deporting people to Libya as early as this week.
When asked during an Oval Office press conference Wednesday whether his administration would be “sending migrants to Libya,” however, Trump responded with the same obliviousness he displayed in a far less consequential answer one day prior about soccer.
“I don’t know,” Trump told reporters. “You’ll have to ask Homeland Security, please.”
The response left critics aghast, as Trump himself recently accused former President Joe Biden of being similarly unaware of his own policies while in office — and Trump’s crackdown on immigration has already prompted dire questions about due process.
“I am sorry who exactly is running the country? Your answer to any question is I don’t know ask someone else. Tell me again about Bidens autopen Presidency,” wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter, with another commenting: “Why is this an acceptable answer?”
“I mean, he talked endless shit about not believing Biden is … aware of what was going on during his term,” the user continued, “but Trump is flat out telling us himself that he doesn’t know what is happening on his watch and that is just fine?”
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy, who previously found that any migrants deported to countries other than their homelands must first be given the chance to argue that their removal would jeopardize their safety, reiterated the ruling Wednesday in a written order.
The document was signed in response to a request from immigration lawyers for a group of migrants in South Texas, who presumably aren’t from Libya — which was criticized for “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions” last year by the U.S. State Department itself.
Trump’s feigned or intentional ignorance Wednesday is being trounced on social media.
