Trump admin to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia as soon as Oct 31

The Trump administration is preparing to deport Salvadoran illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia after reaching an agreement with the African nation. A Department of Homeland Security court filing on Friday stated that Abrego Garcia could be sent to Liberia as soon as October 31, fulfilling a standing deportation order against him. He is beleived to be a member of the MS-13 gang. 

Abrego Garcia has been at the center of controversy over deportation efforts by the Trump administration. In March, he was deported to his home nation of El Salvador on a 2019 immigration detainer. The judge in that case had found, however, that he should not be deported to El Salvador over fears of gang violence, but ruled that he could be sent elsewhere. 

He was subsequently returned to the United States, where the Trump administration has continued efforts to deport him, prompting outcry from Democratic officials. He was also brought up on human trafficking charges.

The court filing noted that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had listed over 20 countries where he feared prosecution or torture if deported, and Liberia was not among them. DHS emphasized that Liberia is “a thriving democracy and one of the United States’s closest partners on the African continent.” It noted how the country’s national language is English, its constitution “provides robust protections for human rights,” and that the country is "committed to the humane treatment of refugees."

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, however, criticized the decision. "After failed attempts with Uganda, Eswatini, and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland," attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, according to the Associated Press.

"Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option," Sandoval-Moshenberg added. "Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel and unconstitutional."

Abrego Garcia entered the US illegally in 2011 and two previous judges found he was likely affiliated with the violent gang MS-13. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in April while he was in El Salvador, criticized the administration’s latest decision.

"The Trump Administration has been desperately shopping for faraway countries they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to in order to deny his constitutional due process right to defend himself against the charges they have brought," Van Hollen said in a statement. 

"Clearly, Trump’s cronies want to avoid answering for the claim that they are engaged in a vindictive prosecution against Abrego Garcia, after a federal judge concluded earlier this month that his prosecution ‘may stem from retaliation by the DOJ and DHS due to Abrego’s successful challenge of his unlawful deportation in Maryland,’” he added. “Kilmar must be allowed his day in court to fight for his rights.”

Abrego Garcia was facing federal charges and was in federal custody on human trafficking charges when he was released by a judge who said he wasn't a flight risk. Federal officials had said prior to the release that were he to be released he would be arrested on the outstanding deportation detainer. The judge released him anyway and the federal agents arrested him and are now planning to execute the deportation.