Kilmar Ábrego Garcia heads back to federal court Tuesday as the U.S. government renews its push to deport him to Liberia, following an 18-month saga that included a previous erroneous deportation to El Salvador.
The fate of 31-year-old Kilmar Ábrego Garcia returns to a federal courtroom Tuesday, marking the latest chapter in an 18-month legal battle defined by administrative errors, criminal indictments, and a central struggle over due process.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis will hear arguments as the federal government moves to vacate a preliminary injunction that currently prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining or deporting the Maryland resident to Liberia. Ábrego Garcia’s legal team is asking the court to make that protection permanent.
This case gained national attention after Ábrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Following his arrest in Baltimore in March 2025—which occurred as he picked up his then-5-year-old son. who has autism and other disabilities. from his grandmother’s house—he was sent to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador. ICE later admitted in court filings that the transfer was an “administrative error.” Activists have long described conditions at the prison as rife with abuse. noting that inmates are held in crowded cells without access to the outdoors.
Under pressure and a court order, the Trump administration returned Ábrego Garcia to the U.S. in June 2025. However, his return was tied to a criminal indictment for human smuggling in Tennessee. A federal judge dismissed that case in May 2026. ruling that the Department of Justice pursued the charges to penalize Ábrego Garcia for contesting his deportation. The government is currently appealing that dismissal.
While an immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Ábrego Garcia could not be returned to El Salvador due to credible threats from a gang that had targeted his family. current officials are intent on sending him to Liberia. Ábrego Garcia has argued that he should instead be sent to Costa Rica. a country that previously agreed to accept him.
Internal correspondence reflects the government’s stance. In a March 2026 memo. then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons stated that deportation to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial to the United States. ” citing the political capital and resources the U.S. had expended to negotiate Liberia’s cooperation in accepting third-country nationals. This push persists despite a separate agreement the U.S. signed with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot be returned to their home nations.
Jossie Flor Sapunar. national communications director for the activist group We Are CASA. characterized the ongoing legal maneuvering as a punitive measure against the family. “The government is leading the same rodeo as many times before. Sending Kilmar to Costa Rica is on the table. However. the government continues to punish him for pursuing his constitutional rights and seeks to ship him to Liberia. ” Sapunar said. adding that the group intends to be present at the courthouse. “Kilmar has become an international symbol of due process, a symbol which the Trump administration wants to silence.”.
For now, the legal tension remains centered on whether the government can override the existing injunction. While Ábrego Garcia was released from custody last December by order of the court. the threat of removal to a West African nation remains a constant reality for him and his family. who remain in Maryland.
Kilmar Ábrego Garcia deportation ICE immigration U.S. District Court Paula Xinis Liberia El Salvador human rights