The Trump administration late Friday urged a federal judge in Maryland to allow immigration officials to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the West African country of Liberia, saying the U.S. government has cleared the final legal hurdle in the deportation process.

Abrego Garcia's case has been at the center of the national debate over President Trump's immigration crackdown ever since he was deported to El Salvador in March, in violation of a federal immigration judge's order that barred his deportation to his native country. After being held in detention facilities in El Salvador for months, including a notorious mega-prison known as CECOT, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June, only to face federal criminal charges of human smuggling. He has denied those charges.

While a trial

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