After mistaken deportation, US asks judge to let it send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

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GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — U.S. government attorneys say they have cleared all the hurdles needed to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia and are asking a federal judge to dissolve an order blocking his deportation.

Abrego Garcia's mistaken deportation to his home country of El Salvador earlier this year has helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies. His attorneys claim the administration is now manipulating the immigration system in order to punish him for successfully challenging that deportation.

A motion from the government filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland late on Friday says officials have received assurances from Liberia that Abrego Garcia would not face persecution or torture there. Further, it says an immigration officer heard Abrego Garcia's claims that he feared deportation to the West African nation, but ruled against him.

His attorneys argue in a separate Friday filing that Abrego Garcia has already designated Costa Rica as a country where he is willing to be deported. They claim the government now must send him there. The fact that officials continue to pursue deportation to other countries is evidence that the process is retaliatory and violates due process protections, they argue.

Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, finding he faced danger there. But in March, he was deported to El Salvador anyway in what a government attorney later said was an administrative error. Facing pressure from the courts, the administration brought him back to the U.S. in June but has since been pursuing his deportation to a third country.

Much of Abrego Garcia's argument against his deportation to Liberia hinges on due process claims. The government tries to tear down those claims, arguing that his due process rights are not the same as a U.S. citizen's. Because he entered the country illegally, he should be treated the same as someone who just crossed the border, they argue.

Meanwhile, his attorneys argue that “'aliens who have established connections in this country’ have greater due process rights than ’an alien at the threshold of initial entry',” citing a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case.

As part of his due process rights, his attorneys also say he is entitled to have an immigration judge review the immigration officer's determination that Abrego Garcia is unlikely to be persecuted or tortured in Liberia. They argue the officer should have considered the fact that Liberia could re-deport Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. And they say the Liberian government has only agreed to accept him on a temporary basis.

Government attorneys say they have assurances from Liberia that the Secretary of State deems sufficient. The court cannot second-guess that conclusion because that would mean intervening in foreign diplomacy, the domain of the executive branch, they argue.

“This Court should therefore dissolve its preliminary injunction and permit Petitioner to be removed to Liberia,” they state.

Separately, Abrego Garcia faces human smuggling charges in federal court in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming the charges are the result of “selective or vindictive prosecution.” A hearing on that motion is set for December 8.