Trump administration moves to dissolve ban on Abrego Garcia's removal to deport him to Liberia
The Trump administration has moved to dissolve the ban on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's removal so that it can proceed with his deportation to Liberia.
In a series of filings overnight, government attorneys said that the Salvadoran native's claim of fear of torture or persecution in the African nation was denied after he was interviewed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last week.
The attorneys for the Department of Justice argued that the preliminary injunction blocking Abrego Garcia’s removal to Liberia should be dissolved because the government received assurances from the government of the West African country that he will not be persecuted or tortured.
The government also said that Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit to stop his removal is improper because he is a member of a separate class action lawsuit in Massachusetts regarding third-country removals. In that case, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with third-country removals.
"Even if the merits were properly presented here, Petitioner's claims fail," the DOJ said. "The Constitution does not entitle Petitioner to process beyond what the political branches have chosen to afford."
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.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The DOJ called Abrego Garcia a member of MS-13 and said his removal is "in the public interest."
On Friday, Abrego Garcia's attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to block his removal to Liberia until an immigration judge reviews the denial of his reasonable fear claim by USCIS.
"The Government insists that the unreasoned determination of a single immigration officer—who concluded that Abrego Garcia failed to establish that it is "more likely than not" that he will be persecuted or tortured in Liberia— satisfies due process," his attorneys said. "It does not."
Abrego Garcia's attorneys also said that the government has "cycled through" four third-country destinations—Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and now Liberia—without providing "the notice, opportunity to be heard and individualized assessment that due process requires."
They argued that the government has disregarded their client's "statutory designation" of Costa Rica, despite the country's previous assurances that it would accept him and give him refugee or resident status.
Abrego Garcia is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
