Judge to weigh government
Washington — The fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, will again be argued in court on Tuesday when his legal team asks a federal judge to block his deportation to Liberia, the latest country where the administration has attempted to send him in his ongoing legal saga.
He was initially held at the Salvadoran mega-prison CECOT and was eventually returned to the U.S. in June 2025 to face criminal human smuggling charges.
In court filings, the Trump administration said that Liberia's government was willing to accept Abrego Garcia and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could arrange a charter plane to send him to the West African country in a matter of days.
Liberia is among the countries that have agreed to accept non-native immigrants from the U.S., and the Trump administration began sending deportees from Latin America there in August. CBS News traveled to Liberia last month and interviewed a number of them. They described being in limbo and feeling stateless. They are unable to return to the U.S., where many have spouses and children, and said they are scared of being persecuted if they go back to their homelands.
Tuesday's hearing is also the first since a federal judge in Tennessee tossed out the criminal indictment charging Abrego Garcia with the alleged crimes, finding that the Justice Department's prosecution of him was vindictive. The government appealed that order in August.
In court filings ahead of Tuesday's hearing, Abrego Garcia's lawyers said that the Trump administration is "trying to abuse its immigration powers to punish" him because their client had the "audacity" to challenge his removal to El Salvador.
The Trump administration has also attempted to re-deport Abrego Garcia to the African nations of Uganda, Eswatini and Ghana, but none of the countries agreed to accept him.
Abrego Garcia has remained free from ICE custody as his case has proceeded.
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- Washington — The fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, will again be argued in court on Tuesday when his legal team asks a federal judge to block his deportation to Liberia
- He was initially held at the Salvadoran mega-prison CECOT and was eventually returned to the U.S. in June 2025 to face criminal human smuggling charges.
- In court filings, the Trump administration said that Liberia's government was willing to accept Abrego Garcia and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could arrange a charter plane to send him to the West African country in a matter of
- Liberia is among the countries that have agreed to accept non-native immigrants from the U.S., and the Trump administration began sending deportees from Latin America there in August. CBS News traveled to Liberia last month and interviewed
- Tuesday's hearing is also the first since a federal judge in Tennessee tossed out the criminal indictment charging Abrego Garcia with the alleged crimes, finding that the Justice Department's prosecution of him was vindictive. The governmen