Judge presses DOJ on plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia
The judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immigration case pressed attorneys for the Department of Justice Tuesday on their plan to remove Abrego Garcia to Liberia "within a matter of weeks."
Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador's notorious CECOT mega-prison last March by the Trump administration then brought back to face human smuggling charges, was back in court Tuesday for a hearing on whether the government can deport him to the West African nation.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis pressed government lawyers on how quickly they intend to remove Abrego Garcia if she lifts the injunctions she had previously issued blocking his removal.
"I want to figure out whether what you're telling me is true, which is, if the injunction were lifted tomorrow ... is it the respondents' position that you would, within a matter of a week, physically remove Abrego Garcia from the United States and send him to Liberia?" Xinis asked.
"I'd be surprised if, once he's taken into custody, Mr. Abrego Garcia were in the country for a week longer," responded DOJ lawyer Ernesto Molina.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year 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 he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. last June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
When Judge Xinis asked during Tuesday's hearing what would happen to the criminal case in Tennessee if Abrego Garcia is deported to Liberia, Molina said it is up to the judge overseeing that case to decide how to proceed.
"If there's a criminal indictment and it's pending and you are arranging for Abrego Garcia to go to the country of your choice, not his choice, I want to know what the implication of that is," Xinis said.
On Abrego Garcia's possible deportation to Liberia, Molina said the West African country "has a strong human rights record and is a relatively safe place in the world."
"Liberia is a member of the U.N. protocol providing protections and assurances to refugees. He will be able to avail himself of those," Molina said. "Once he's removed, that's the end of the United States' interest in his whereabouts."
Judge Xinis also pressed the government on why it refuses to designate Costa Rica, which has offered Abrego Garcia refugee status, as the country of removal.
"He elected Costa Rica, you're not having it," Xinis said. "You're insisting on Liberia -- it's punitive."
Molina argued that the Secretary of Homeland Security has discretion to disregard an individual's preferred country of removal and said the decision is "not reviewable" in federal court.
Judge Xinis ordered both sides to meet and propose a joint schedule for her to issue a final ruling on Abrego Garcia's remaining habeas and constitutional clams.
