Kilmar Ábrego Garcia deportation hearing abruptly canceled

A federal court hearing regarding the deportation case of Kilmar Ábrego Garcia was abruptly canceled on Tuesday. The hearing was intended to address a legal battle over whether the Salvadoran national should be deported to Liberia.

Ábrego Garcia’s case gained significant attention after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a proposed second deportation to Liberia, a West African nation. While his legal team is seeking to make a preliminary injunction permanent to prevent his removal, the government is moving to vacate the injunction that currently prevents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining him.

Ábrego Garcia has argued that he should be sent to Costa Rica, which had previously agreed to accept him. However, former acting ICE director Todd Lyons stated in a memo that sending him to Costa Rica would be ‘prejudicial to the United States’ due to the political capital and resources spent negotiating with Liberia to accept third-country nationals.