Deporting migrants to Libya without a chance to challenge the removals would violate a court order, a federal judge said Wednesday, after immigration attorneys reported that authorities told people they would be sent to the country with a history of human rights violations.

A federal judge has warned the Trump administration -- amid reports it plans to deport migrants to Libya -- that doing so would violate court orders prohibiting the government from shipping deportees to a third country.

The order comes after lawyers expressed alarm that the US was planning to deport migrants to the North African country "immediately".