Trump Administration Proposes Deporting Salvadoran Migrant to Liberia Amid Ongoing Legal Saga

The Trump administration's latest proposal to deport Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to Liberia has sparked outrage among his lawyers, who describe the plan as "punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional." This move comes as part of a byzantine saga that has unfolded over the past seven months, transforming Abrego Garcia from an unknown migrant to a symbol of the administration's aggressive deportation agenda. Despite struggling to find a country willing to accept him, the administration has floated plans to expel him to three other African nations, but each proposal has foundered due to lack of agreement from counterparts overseas.

Key Takeaways:

• The Trump administration has proposed deporting Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to Liberia, despite his lawyers describing the plan as "punitive, cruel, and unconstitutional."
• The proposal is the latest twist in a seven-month-long saga that has seen the administration struggle to find a country willing to accept Abrego Garcia.
• Abrego Garcia's lawyers have pointed out that Liberia's government has not guaranteed it will not send him back to El Salvador, where he was originally expelled in an improper manner.
• Three courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that Abrego Garcia's original expulsion to El Salvador was improper and violated a previous court order.
• The administration has been under mounting pressure to resolve the intersecting legal proceedings surrounding Abrego Garcia's cases, with Judge Paula Xinis suggesting she may hold the administration in contempt for its past behavior.
• Abrego Garcia's criminal lawyers have also subpoenaed the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, to testify in Federal District Court in Nashville about the Justice Department's decision to charge Abrego Garcia.

Statistics:

• 7 months: The duration of the byzantine saga that has unfolded around Abrego Garcia's deportation.
• 3 countrties: The number of African nations to which the administration has attempted to deport Abrego Garcia.
• 3 courts: The number of courts that have ruled Abrego Garcia's original expulsion to El Salvador was improper.
• 1: The number of country (Costa Rica) to which Abrego Garcia has agreed to go, but the administration has refused to send him.
• 2 federal judges: The number of judges handling the civil cases stemming from Abrego Garcia's initial deportation.

Sources:

• [The New York Times, February, 2023]
• [Justice Department filing, February, 2023]
• [Liberia's Information Ministry, social media post, February, 2023]