A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official is scheduled to testify on Thursday regarding the actions taken by the Trump administration to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, as efforts continue to remove him from the U.S. before his upcoming criminal trial on human smuggling charges next year.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, overseeing Abrego Garcia’s legal challenge against the deportation, has mandated that immigration official John Cantú testify in person. Cantú, a key figure at ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, previously submitted a statement to the court concerning discussions between the State Department and Costa Rica about potentially accepting Abrego Garcia, as well as details regarding his possible deportation to Liberia.
Abrego Garcia has expressed his willingness to be deported to Costa Rica. A ruling from Judge Xinis has been in effect since August, temporarily blocking the Trump administration from deporting him.
However, earlier this month, the Trump administration requested that Xinis lift that order, contending that all necessary procedures for his deportation have been fulfilled.
Abrego Garcia’s situation has become a focal point in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts since the Salvadoran immigrant was removed from Maryland to El Salvador in March, despite having been granted withholding of removal in 2019 due to fears of gang persecution.
He is facing deportation proceedings for unlawfully entering the U.S. as a teenager in 2011.
In June, Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. after being detained in a notorious El Salvadoran mega-prison while facing two felony human smuggling charges, which he has denied.
Prior to his criminal trial next year, the Trump administration has persistently sought to deport Abrego Garcia again, proposing several African nations, including Uganda, Eswatini, and now, Liberia.
The Justice Department reported that Abrego Garcia was interviewed by a U.S. asylum officer in October, who concluded that he did not sufficiently demonstrate a likelihood of persecution or torture in Liberia, deeming further due process unnecessary.
According to the Justice Department, Abrego Garcia’s “claims are procedurally barred multiple times over and fail on the merits in any event.” They requested that the court lift its preliminary injunction and allow for his removal to Liberia.
Additionally, the Justice Department provided declarations from U.S. officials asserting that Liberia has given “sufficient and credible” assurances regarding Abrego Garcia’s safety and that he would not be sent to another country where he might face persecution.
In a press release last month, Liberia’s government stated it agreed to accept Abrego Garcia on “a strictly humanitarian and temporary basis,” following a U.S. request.
Abrego Garcia and his legal team have consistently challenged the government’s deportation attempts to African nations, citing fears of persecution or torture. They argue that the administration’s repeated efforts to send him to Africa represent retaliation, advocating instead for his deportation to Costa Rica.
The government previously offered to deport him to Costa Rica this summer, but only on the condition that he pleads guilty to the federal charges against him in Tennessee.
“The timeline suggests a pattern: when the Government received orders it disliked in Abrego Garcia’s civil case contesting his unlawful removal to El Salvador, it initiated a criminal prosecution in retaliation; and when it received unfavorable orders in his criminal case, it launched third-country removal efforts in retaliation,” his attorneys stated in a response to the Justice Department’s motion.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have requested that Xinis maintain her injunction against his deportation “unless and until an immigration judge concurs” with the Trump administration’s findings.
