U.S. government attorneys informed a federal judge on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) still intends to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia, despite a new agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot legally be returned to their countries of origin.
The Salvadoran national's case has become a focal point of the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Since his return, he has fought against a second deportation—to a series of African countries—proposed by Homeland Security officials.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland had already barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from deporting or detaining him. She wrote that the agency lacks a viable plan to deport Ábrego García, and in February, she referred to “one empty threat after another to expel him to countries in Africa without any real possibility of success.”
Ábrego García has maintained that, if he is to be deported, he should be sent to Costa Rica, which previously agreed to accept him. However, Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE, noted in a memorandum issued in March that deporting Ábrego García to Costa Rica would be “detrimental to the United States.” Lyons wrote that Ábrego García should be sent to Liberia because the United States has expended government resources and political capital negotiating with the West African nation to accept nationals from third countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment