The U.S. government plans to deport Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, despite a new agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot legally be returned to their home countries. According to CBS News, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian, U.S. government attorneys told a federal judge that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still intends to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia.
Key Takeaways
The U.S. government plans to deport Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia despite a new agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year, where he faced danger from gangs that had threatened his family.
- U.S. government insists on deporting Abrego Garcia to Liberia
- Abrego Garcia prefers deportation to Costa Rica, which has agreed to accept him
- Judge Paula Xinis questions the motive behind sending Abrego Garcia to Africa
- Abrego Garcia faces human smuggling charges in Tennessee and is fighting his deportation
Abrego Garcia's case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year, despite an immigration judge ruling that he could not be deported there due to danger from gangs. According to The Guardian, Abrego Garcia has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by homeland security officials.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, of Maryland, previously barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deporting or detaining Abrego Garcia. She has written that the agency has no viable plan to actually deport Abrego Garcia, referring in February to 'one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success.' According to Al Jazeera, Judge Xinis questioned why the Trump administration would not consider deporting Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica instead of Liberia.
Abrego Garcia has argued that if he is going to be deported, it should be to Costa Rica, which previously agreed to accept him. However, Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE, said in a March memo that deporting Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica would be 'prejudicial to the United States.' According to CBS News, Lyons wrote that Abrego Garcia should be sent to Liberia because the U.S. has spent government resources and political capital negotiating with the West African nation to accept third-country nationals.
Abrego Garcia, 30, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. He is currently facing human smuggling charges in Tennessee and is fighting his deportation proceedings. Judge Xinis set a new hearing on the matter for April 28.
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