Washington — The Justice Department said Friday that the Trump administration is seeking to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia and said the West African nation has agreed to accept him.
In a filing with a federal judge in Maryland, Justice Department lawyers said that immigration officials expect to formally notify Abrego Garcia later Friday that Liberia has been designated as the new country of removal. They said the Trump administration expects to be able to deport Abrego Garcia as soon as Oct. 31.
The administration has “received diplomatic assurances regarding the treatment of third-country individuals removed to Liberia from the United States and are making the final necessary arrangements for [Abrego Garcia’s] removal,” they wrote.
In the court filing, the Justice Department said that Abrego Garcia had identified more than 20 countries that he fears would persecute or torture him if he were removed there, and Liberia is not on the list.
“Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States’s closest partners on the African continent,” they wrote.
