Man born in El Salvador has been fighting removal to series of ‘third’ countries after mistaken deportation last year
US government attorneys on Tuesday told a federal judge the Department of Homeland Security still intends to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia, despite a new agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot legally be returned to their home countries.
The Salvadorian national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by homeland security officials.
US district judge Paula Xinis, of Maryland, previously barred ICE from deporting him or detaining him. She has written that the agency has no viable plan to actually deport Ábrego García, referring in February to “one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success”.
Ábrego García has argued that if he is going to be deported, it should be to Costa Rica, which previously agreed to accept him. But Todd Lyons, the acting head of US Customs and Immigration Enforcement, said in a March memo that deporting Ábrego García to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial to the United States”.
