BALTIMORE — ICE has filed a new court motion seeking to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the West African nation of Liberia.
Garcia has been free since early December when Maryland Federal District Court Judge Paula Xinis ordered his release.
At the time Xinis said the federal government presented no evidence of immediate plans to deport Garcia, and therefore ruled his continued detention unlawful.
Back in October of 2025 the government announced plans for Garcia to be deported to Liberia, but at the time no formal agreement had been finalized between the two countries.
That's since changed, according to this latest filing, which states Liberia "has agreed to accept him."
Garcia's lawyers, meanwhile, have argued for their client to be removed to Costa Rica, for which the Government previously offered if he agreed to plead guilty to federal human trafficking charges.
Since the defense declined that offer, the feds now say Garcia has forfeited his right to choose which country he's deported to.
The government cites last year's Supreme Court ruling permitting third-country removals of undocumented migrants, which a district court judge in Massachusetts has repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to halt.
U.S. DOJ and DHS officials have long painted Abrego-Garcia as a wife beating, MS-13 gang member, involved in human trafficking.
Garcia has denied all allegations amid his pending trial in Tennessee on trafficking charges.
The Trump Administration's policy of holding migrants in custody indefinitely pending deportation has become the center of thousands of Habeas Corpus cases around the nation.
While a majority of district level judges have ruled against the government's position, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently sided with the President.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit heard similar arguments on February 19, and has not yet ruled on the matter.
It's unclear when Xinis will rule on the government's latest request.
