On Friday, the Trump administration requested a federal judge to approve the deportation of Kilmer Abrego Garcia to Liberia, indicating that all legal challenges have been resolved. This latest filing is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to deport Abrego Garcia, who had returned from El Salvador earlier this year. The Justice Department urged U.S. District Court Judge Paula Kisinis to lift the injunction against his deportation, claiming he could not demonstrate that he would be persecuted upon returning to Liberia.
The Justice Department stated, “Appellant’s claims have been repeatedly barred procedurally and are in any event invalid on the merits.” They added that the court should vacate the preliminary injunction and allow the government to proceed with transferring Abrego Garcia to Liberia, asserting that there was confidence he would not face harm there.
However, Abrego Garcia’s legal team contended that he did not receive adequate due process to justify the deportation. They challenged the government’s assertion that one immigration official’s decision—claiming he failed to prove he was likely to face persecution or torture in Liberia—satisfied due process standards.
Additionally, his lawyers pointed out that Costa Rica had offered him asylum as a refugee, suggesting that his situation constitutes retaliatory prosecution. They noted that the U.S. would only consider sending him to Costa Rica if he agreed to plead guilty to human trafficking charges.
In their argument, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers claimed a pattern of retaliation from the government. They stated, “When the government received an order it did not like in Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s civil case challenging his illegal deportation to El Salvador, it initiated a criminal prosecution in retaliation. And when it received an order it did not like in Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s criminal case, it initiated a third-country deportation effort in retaliation.”
At the outset of the lawsuit, Abrego García’s attorneys named over 20 countries where he feared persecution and torture if removed, yet Liberia was not included in this list. The Justice Department pointed out that “Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States’ closest partners on the African continent.”
