Judge presses DOJ on its intention to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia
The federal judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Maryland immigration case pressed Justice Department attorneys at a hearing Monday to justify their decision to designate the West African nation of Liberia as the country of removal for the wrongfully deported Salvadoran native, when Abrego Garcia's lawyers have said there is a "clear pathway" for his removal to Costa Rico.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a court notice on Friday that Liberia had agreed to accept Abrego Garcia, after the agency previously indicated it was planning to deport him to Eswatini or Uganda.
"Is there any insight you could shed as to why we are proceeding towards Liberia as the final third country, instead of Costa Rica?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis asked the DOJ attorneys at Monday's hearing.
DOJ attorneys did not explain why the government was not pursuing removal to Costa Rica, which Abrego Garcia's lawyers have said is his preferred country of removal should he be deported, and instead stated that they were prepared to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia as early as Friday.
Abrego Garcia's deportation is currently blocked by Judge Xinis pending the resolution of the habeas case challenging his removal.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution -- after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
During Monday's hearing, Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said he was not satisfied with sealed documents provided by the DOJ regarding Abrego Garcia's potential removal to Liberia. He said the government did not clarify whether his client would be free or detained in the West African country, and that Liberia had only agreed to accept him for "a short period of time."
Judge Xinis did not rule on Abrego Garcia's release from immigration detention but ordered the parties to submit a briefing schedule by Tuesday morning.
