Abrego Garcia back in federal court as government seeks to deport him to Liberia

Left · 2Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to federal court in Maryland on Tuesday 6 October 2026, where US District Judge Paula Xinis was to weigh the Trump administration's effort to deport him to Liberia. 1 2 Left · 1The government is moving to lift a preliminary injunction from Xinis that bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting him and sending him to Liberia, while his lawyers want the order made permanent. 1 Left · 1In March, the administration told the court it was ready to send him to Liberia. It said Liberia's government was willing to accept him and that ICE could arrange a charter flight within days. 2

Left · 1Abrego Garcia, a 31-year-old Salvadoran national with an American wife and child, had lived in Maryland for years after arriving illegally as a teenager. In 2019 an immigration judge barred his removal to El Salvador because of gang threats against his family. 1 Left · 2He was arrested in Baltimore in March 2025 and sent to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. ICE conceded in court filings that the transfer was an "administrative error". 1 2 Left · 2The administration returned him in June 2025 after public outcry and a court order, but only after securing a human smuggling indictment in Tennessee. It has said he belonged to MS-13, which he denies. 1 2

Left · 2A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed that case in May 2026, finding the prosecution vindictive. The government appealed in August, and Tuesday's hearing is the first since the dismissal. 1 2 Left · 1Abrego Garcia has named Costa Rica as his preferred country of removal, and Costa Rica has indicated it would give him refugee status or residency. A Justice Department lawyer said at a hearing last year that there had been no discussions about deporting him there. 2 Left · 1Todd Lyons, the former acting ICE director, wrote in a March 2026 memo that sending him to Costa Rica would be "prejudicial to the United States". He said the US had spent resources and political capital negotiating with Liberia to take third-country nationals. 1

Left · 1The administration also tried to send him to Uganda, Eswatini and Ghana, but none agreed to take him. He remains out of ICE custody while the case continues. 2 Left · 1His lawyers argue in filings that the administration is "trying to abuse its immigration powers to punish" him for challenging his removal to El Salvador. The Justice Department says his claims "fail as a matter of law". 2 Left · 1Jossie Flor Sapunar of the advocacy group We Are CASA, which backs the family, said the government "continues to punish him for pursuing his constitutional rights". The group planned to be at the courthouse. 1

Left · 1Liberia is among the countries that have agreed to accept non-native immigrants from the US, and deportees from Latin America began arriving in August. CBS News interviewed some of them there, and they described being in limbo, feeling stateless and fearing persecution if sent home. 2