TRIPOLI, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Immigration Control Department said Wednesday that it has deported 131 illegal African immigrants.
The department said the immigrants of Chadian or Sudanese nationalities, who are infected with contagious diseases, were deported by land through the southern city of Kufra.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently said that Libya has more than 650,000 illegal immigrants with 6,000 of them, including women and children, being held in detention centers.
Shelters in Libya are crowded with immigrants rescued at sea or arrested, despite international calls to close those centers.
Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe from Libya, which in the words of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is not a safe port in light of its deteriorating security conditions.
