As the Department of Homeland Security continues to seek the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the agency said Friday it had identified a new country of removal that has agreed to accept the wrongly deported Salvador native: the West African nation of Liberia.In a court notice filed Friday, Department of Justice attorneys said DHS has received "diplomatic assurances regarding the treatment of third-country individuals removed to Liberia from the United States and are making the final necessary arrangements for [Abrego Garcia's] removal."According to the notice, DHS expects "to be able to effectuate removal as soon as October 31."Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia return to court as his deportation saga continuesAbrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution.The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in Pennsylvania, where the government has told his attorneys that it intends to deport him to a country other than El Salvador.U.S.District Judge Paula Xinis, who has been overseeing Abrego Garcia's immigration case in Maryland, has currently banned the government from removing him from the United States.Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesFriday's notice comes after the DHS served Abrego Garcia a notice of removal to Ghana that the agency subsequently said was "pre...