Critics raged Friday after Justice Department officials moved to rush the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia — seven months after his case gained widespread condemnation when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in violation of an immigration judge's order.
This time, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that the government wants Abrego Garcia deported to the African nation by Oct. 31 — over his strong objections — and that rushed timing was flagged by critics as no accident.
Journalist Adam Klasfeld wrote on X: "Feds want to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia by Oct. 31. That's days before Abrego wanted to get Todd Blanche on the hot seat for vindictive prosecution hearings scheduled for Nov. 4-5."
Others called out the DOJ for continuing its crusade against Abrego Garcia.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow for the American Immigration Counci, wrote on X: "After trying to bribe Kilmar Abrego Garcia into pleading guilty by telling him they’d send him to Costa Rica if he did and to Africa if he didn’t, the Trump admin is now refusing to acknowledge that he agreed to be deported to Costa Rica — but won’t plead guilty."
Tyler McBrien, managing editor of Lawfare, posted on X: "One of the reasons the Trump administration is now trying to remove Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia is 'its national language is English,' a fact that the president seemingly learned for the first time about three months ago."
And Greg Sargent, staff writer at the New Republic, posted this on X: "Sick: Trump admin now wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia. From his lawyer: "Unless Liberia guarantees that it will not redeport Mr. Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, then sending him to Liberia is no less unlawful than sending him directly to El Salvador a second time."
