The federal judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Maryland immigration case pressed Justice Department attorneys at a hearing Monday to justify their decision to designate the West African nation of Liberia as the country of removal for the wrongfully deported Salvadoran native, when Abrego Garcia's lawyers have said there is a "clear pathway" for his removal to Costa Rico. The Department of Homeland Security said in a court notice on Friday that Liberia had agreed to accept Abrego Garcia, after the agency previously indicated it was planning to deport him to Eswatini or Uganda. "Is there any insight you could shed as to why we are proceeding towards Liberia as the final third country, instead of Costa Rica?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis asked the DOJ attorneys at Monday's hearing. DO

See Full Page