deport

BALTIMORE — The U.S. government plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia and could do so as early as Oct. 31, according to a Friday court filing.

The Salvadoran national’s case has become a magnet for opposition to President Trump’s immigration crackdown since he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, in violation of a settlement agreement.

He was returned to the U.S. in June after the U.S. Supreme Court said the administration had to work to bring him back. Since he cannot be re-deported to El Salvador, the U.S. government has been seeking to deport him to various African countries.

A federal judge in Maryland had previously barred his immediate deportation. Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit there claims the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him for its embarrassment over his mistaken deportation.

A Friday court filing from the Department of Homeland Security says that “Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States’s closest partners on the African continent.” Its national language is English, its constitution “provides robust protections for human rights,” and Liberia is “committed to the humane treatment of refugees,” the filing asserts. It concludes that Abrego Garcia could be deported as soon as Friday.

The court filing assessment is in contrast to a U.S. State Department report last year that detailed a human rights record in Liberia including extrajudicial killings, torture and serious restrictions on press freedom.

“After failed attempts with Uganda, Eswatini, and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland,” a statement from attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg reads. “Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option. Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional.”

Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager, but in 2019 an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador, where he faces a “well-founded fear” of violence from a gang that targeted his family, according to court filings. In a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia has applied for asylum in the United States.

Additionally, Abrego Garcia is facing criminal charges in federal court in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. He has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — The Department of Justice filed a motion Friday to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, a country to which he has no ties.

The Department of Homeland Security has received “diplomatic assurances regarding the treatment of third-country individuals removed to Liberia from the United States and are making the final necessary arrangements for [Abrego Garcia’s] removal,” the filing said.

DHS expects “to be able to effectuate removal as soon as Oct. 31.”

Abrego Garcia, a Baltimore resident, is a native of El Salvador. He was accidentally deported to a Salvadoran prison in March against a court order. In recent months, DHS has been looking for a new place to send him. It’s tried Uganda, Eswatini and Ghana, but those countries refused.

But an immigration judge ordered that Abrego Garcia not be removed from the United States.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney said the government “has chosen yet another path that feels designed to inflict maximum hardship.”

“Having struck out with Uganda, Eswatini and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia — a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told ABC News. “Costa Rica has agreed to accept him as a refugee, and remains a viable and lawful option.”

The DOJ said Liberia is “a thriving democracy” and is “committed to the humane treatment of refugees.”

Abrego Garcia has been accused of being a gang member and of human trafficking, stemming from a 2002 traffic stop in Tennessee. Police stopped the vehicle in Tennessee and found several Latino men with no identification. Charges for that case were filed this year. He still awaits trial.

On Oct. 4, a federal judge in Tennessee granted a motion by Abrego Garcia’s defense team that seeks a hearing for vindictive prosecution.

“The timing of Abrego’s indictment suggests a realistic likelihood that senior DOJ and [Homeland Security] officials may have induced Acting U.S. Attorney [Robert] McGuire (albeit unknowingly) to criminally charge Abrego in retaliation for his Maryland lawsuit,” U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. wrote.

The Maryland lawsuit was Garcia’s successful legal challenge in a federal court in which he showed DHS made a mistake when it deported him to El Salvador.

Federal officials also contend Abrego Garcia was a member of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, though he and his family deny it. They argue that Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador because of gang violence.