Federal Judge to Hear Challenge to Proposed Deportation of Salvadoran Man to Liberia
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A federal court in Maryland will consider a request by the legal team of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to block a planned removal to Liberia, after previous attempts to deport him to several countries were rejected.
A Maryland federal judge is set to hear arguments on Tuesday over a request by the lawyers of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to stop a proposed deportation to Liberia. Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador in March 2025 despite a 2019 court order warning of gang-related danger, has been living with his family in Maryland since his return to the United States in June 2025 to face human-smuggling charges.
The Trump administration filed a motion asking Judge Paula Xinis to lift the existing order that blocks any removal of Garcia, asserting that Liberia is prepared to accept him and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could arrange transport within days. Liberia has previously agreed to receive non-native immigrants from the United States, and the administration has begun sending deportees from Latin America there since August.
Garcia has expressed a preference for removal to Costa Rica, which has indicated it would consider granting him refugee status or residency, though a Justice Department lawyer said no discussions had taken place on that option. His attorneys argue that the government is misusing its immigration authority to punish him for challenging his earlier removal.
"Just as the Government unlawfully wielded its criminal powers against Abrego Garcia, so it seeks to unlawfully exploit its immigration powers against him," the lawyers wrote in a May motion.
The hearing follows a recent decision by a Tennessee judge who dismissed the criminal indictment against Garcia, finding the prosecution to be vindictive, a ruling the Justice Department appealed in August. The administration has also explored deportations to Uganda, Eswatini and Ghana, but those countries declined to accept him. Garcia remains free from ICE custody while the case proceeds.