Judge seeks assurances that Abrego Garcia won't be deported to Liberia
in violation of court order
[October 28, 2025]
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland on Monday sought
assurances that the government will not deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia
before she has lifted an injunction barring his removal from the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a notice late last week of
their plan to deport him to the West African nation of Liberia as early
as Friday. It's the latest in a series of African countries the agency
has designated as possible destinations for the Salvadoran national.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland
for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. 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. Earlier this year, his mistaken
deportation to El Salvador, where he was held in a notoriously brutal
prison despite having no criminal record, galvanized opposition to
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Facing mounting public
pressure and a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to
the U.S. in June.
During a status conference on Monday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis
questioned why the government does not simply deport Abrego Garcia to
Costa Rica — a country he has said he is willing to go to because the
government has promised he would welcomed as a legal immigrant and not
re-deported to El Salvador.
“Any insight you can shed on why we're continuing this hearing when you
could deport him to a third country tomorrow?” Xinis asked government
attorneys. She noted that both the government and Abrego Garcia were
“about to burn significant resources” in fighting over whether he can
legally be deported to Liberia.
Government attorneys, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew
C. Ensign and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Guynn, didn't
immediately have an answer but suggested it could be part of an upcoming
court filing.
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Activists rally outside of the U.S. District Court District of
Maryland ahead of an evidentiary hearing where attorneys for Kilmar
Abrego Garcia will seek his immediate release from immigration
detention, Oct. 10, 2025, in Greenbelt, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie
Scarbrough, File)
In the meantime, the attorneys said ICE is preparing to interview
Abrego Garcia after he filed an official notice expressing fear of
deportation to Liberia. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg,
told the judge they have received some confidential documents
pertaining to assurances from the Liberian government about how
Abrego Garcia would be treated there. However, they are not
satisfied by what they have received. He hinted that the Liberian
government has only agreed to take Abrego Garcia for a limited time.
The administration’s deportation agreements with so-called third
countries have been contested in court by advocacy groups, who have
argued that they violate due process rights and that immigrants are
being sent to countries with long histories of human rights
violations. But in June, a divided Supreme Court allowed the swift
removal of immigrants to countries other than their homelands and
with minimal notice.
When Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June, he was charged
in Tennessee with human smuggling. He has pleaded not guilty and
asked the judge to dismiss that case. A hearing on the motion to
dismiss is set for next week, and Xinis noted the fact that the
government seems ready to deport him just prior to that, saying his
removal would be the end of the criminal case.
“It doesn’t pass the sniff test that there hasn’t been some
coordination” Xinis said, noting that the hearing in the criminal
case was “common knowledge."
“If I don’t lift the injunction, you are abiding by it, and he’s not
going to be removed? Is that right?” she asked the government
attorneys. They agreed.
In a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia has applied
for asylum in the United States.
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