Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration may deport migrants to Libya as early as this week, and is considering a UK-style Rwanda scheme, multiple reports suggest.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, three Trump administration officials told Reuters that migrants may be deported to Libya for the first time as early as this week.

If true, a number of undocumented migrants would be flown by military jet to the North African country, despite concerns around human rights abuses and political instability.

It is not clear how closely the process would resemble the deportation of hundreds of alleged gang members to a megaprison in El Salvador, an effort that went ahead despite being barred by the Supreme Court.

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An exact number of migrants could not be determined because the White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security all refused to respond to requests for comment sent by Reuters.

In addition, it is unknown how the migrants will be housed, where they will land, or whether they will be imprisoned upon landing in Libya.

The move follows comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, in which he revealed an intention to send migrants to third countries.

"We are working with other countries to say: We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings, will you do this as a favor to us," Rubio said during a cabinet meeting. "The further away from America, the better."

Rwanda's foreign minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, earlier this week told the country's state broadcaster, Rwanda TV, that talks were underway with the US to accept migrant deportations from the US.

Such a move would mirror a similar policy that the UK government tried to implement under Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

The scheme was considered a failure and immediately ditched by the Starmer government when they came to power last year, but not before more than $900 million was spent to deport only four people.

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Last month, the Trump administration deported an Iraqi refugee to Rwanda in response to claims that he had worked for the Islamic State.

Such deportations have been condemned by international organizations that have long warned that Rwanda could return such refugees to their countries of origin, in direct contradiction to international law.

"We are in discussions with the United States," Nduhungirehe said in an interview. "It has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing...still in the early stages."