GREENBELT, Md. – A federal judge in Maryland promised on Thursday to rule as soon as possible on whether to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration custody.
Abrego Garcia's mistaken deportation to El Salvador in March, in violation of an earlier court settlement, has galvanized both sides of the debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Since his return to the United States in June, the government has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries. His attorneys claim the government is illegally using the immigration system to punish Abrego Garcia for the embarrassment of having to admit that his earlier deportation was in error.
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U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland earlier issued an injunction that prevents his immediate removal. The government has asked her to lift the injunction. In court on Thursday, John Cantu, of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified in support of Homeland Security’s latest proposal to send Abrego Garcia to Liberia.
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. Since he cannot be deported to El Salvador, the government wants to deport him to a third country.
He has said he is willing to be deported to Costa Rica, which earlier had given the U.S. government a guarantee that he would be allowed to live freely there. However, the government has made no obvious effort to deport him to the Spanish-speaking Central American country, instead notifying of their intent to send him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and now Liberia.
In court on Thursday, Cantu told the judge that removal to Costa Rica is “not an option at the moment” but was short on details as to why.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys argued that the government cannot simply hold him in immigration detention indefinitely. They also pointed out that there is no final order of removal for Abrego Garcia in the immigration record.
Xinis seemed to agree that without a removal order, he probably should not be in custody.
“You can’t fake it ’till you make it,” she said of the order. “You’ve got to have it.”
Xinis said she would rule on whether he can be released as quickly as she could, but noted, “These are weighty issues.”
Even if Abrego Garcia is released from immigration custody, the government will likely continue seeking to deport him. He has petitioned to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum in the U.S., but there is no guarantee that he will be successful.
After the hearing, Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told reporters that the government's failure to state a reason why Costa Rica cannot accept him adds to the impression that the immigration system is being used for retaliation.
“I can’t think of any reason why we’re still fighting out this case, and why he’s still behind bars in a detention center in Pennsylvania, when the government could have sent him to Costa Rica months ago,” he said.
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Travis Loller contributed to this report from Nashville, Tennessee.