Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, back in the United States after the Trump administration mistakenly deported him to a Salvadoran prison, is on the verge of being released from jail as he awaits a criminal trial in Tennessee — but now ICE is planning to deport him yet again.
Except this time, federal immigration officials are preparing to send him to an unidentified “third country,” a continuation of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to divert undocumented immigrants to Libya, South Sudan and other nations around the globe where they have no personal connection.
A Justice Department lawyer revealed new details about the administration’s intentions in federal court Thursday afternoon when facing questions from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who has spent months demanding the government return Abrego Garcia and explain how and why it deported him in the first place.