Men loading a pickup truck before leaving for Libya from the newly reopened immigration outpost in Agadez, Niger. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
THE 613 men had travelled from their native Niger to neighbouring Libya, where many of them planned to reach Europe over the Mediterranean Sea, a journey thousands of people from sub-Saharan Africa endeavour to make every year.
But in late December, the men were deported by Libyan authorities in one of the country’s largest expulsions in years.