Overview
- Government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Tuesday that DHS intends to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia despite Costa Rica’s recent offer to receive him.
- Xinis kept prior orders that bar ICE from detaining or deporting him and set new briefing and a hearing for April 28.
- A Justice Department attorney said Abrego Garcia could “remove himself” to Costa Rica, which Xinis called a “fantasy” because a Tennessee court requires him to attend his criminal hearings.
- Acting ICE chief Todd Lyons wrote in March that sending him to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial” to the United States and pressed for Liberia after U.S. negotiations with that government.
- Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March 2025 despite a 2019 ruling that he faced gang threats there, the Supreme Court ordered his return, and he later pleaded not guilty to a Tennessee human smuggling charge.