- A Maryland hearing on deportation to Liberia was canceled before Judge Paula Xinis took the bench.
- The government seeks to end Ábrego García’s protection; his lawyers seek a permanent injunction, and both requests remain pending.
- Existing orders bar detention or removal to Liberia, and Ábrego García remains outside ICE custody.
A court official told those present that a hearing on the Trump administration’s effort to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia had been canceled Tuesday. The proceeding had been scheduled for October 6, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Ábrego García appeared in Greenbelt, Maryland. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis never took the bench.
About five minutes before the scheduled start, lawyers for both sides left the courtroom for a conference that lasted approximately 15 minutes. The hearing did not go forward, and the court gave no public explanation.
His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said the court was “unable to go forward.” He added, “We’re not able to have any more comment at this time.” Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice also declined to comment.
The government wants Liberia while Ábrego García seeks lasting protection
The hearing was set to address opposing requests over a preliminary injunction. The order currently prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining or deporting Ábrego García to Liberia.
The government wants the judge to dissolve that protection and allow removal. His attorneys asked the court to make the injunction permanent. Neither request was resolved at the canceled session.
In court filings, the administration says Liberia is willing to accept him and that ICE could arrange a charter flight within days. His legal team says the government is using immigration authority to punish him for contesting his removal.
In a July filing, his lawyers wrote:
“What is unconstitutional is the Government’s insistence on punitively removing him to an African country—to which he has no connection and has asserted a fear of persecution or torture, including by future refoulement—instead of the country which he validly designated, Costa Rica, in retaliation for exercising his constitutional and statutory rights.”
The Justice Department has asked the judge to deny his motions, arguing that “his claims fail as a matter of law.”
Costa Rica’s offer did not end the administration’s Liberia effort
Ábrego García designated Costa Rica as his preferred destination. Costa Rican officials have indicated they would offer refugee status and potentially residency.
His attorneys have questioned why the government did not send him there earlier. They wrote: “If the Government truly wanted to remove Abrego Garcia from the United States, it would have sent him to Costa Rica in August 2025 when he designated it [as his country of removal].”
In a March 2026 memorandum, Todd Lyons, identified as ICE’s former acting director, described removal to Costa Rica as “prejudicial to the United States.” The memorandum cited resources and political capital the United States had spent negotiating with Liberia to accept third-country nationals.
The administration continued pursuing Liberia after the United States reached an agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who could not legally be returned to their home countries. Liberia has indicated willingness to accept him.
Officials also considered or attempted removal to Eswatini, Uganda and Ghana. Those three countries did not agree to accept him.
The Liberia dispute followed his mistaken deportation to El Salvador
Ábrego García, a Salvadoran national, was deported to El Salvador in March 2025 despite a 2019 immigration-judge order barring his removal there. The order cited danger from a gang that had threatened his family.
He was sent to CECOT, El Salvador’s mega-prison. ICE later acknowledged in court filings that the deportation was an “administrative error.”
The administration alleged that he had ties to MS-13, an allegation he denies. He had lived in Maryland with his wife and children. Authorities arrested him in Baltimore in March 2025 after he picked up his then-5-year-old son from his grandmother’s home.
After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an order requiring his return, the administration brought him back to the United States in June 2025.
The Tennessee human-smuggling case ended in dismissal, then an appeal
After his return, Ábrego García faced a Tennessee criminal case alleging human smuggling. A federal judge dismissed the indictment in May 2026, finding that the government’s investigation had been tainted by a “vindictive motive.”
The Justice Department appealed that dismissal in August 2026. The canceled hearing would have been the first in Xinis’s court since the Tennessee case was dismissed.
The existing orders remain in force as the case returns to the docket
The existing orders remain in place, and Ábrego García has remained outside ICE custody while the litigation proceeds. His lawyers’ request for permanent protection and the government’s bid to remove him to Liberia are both still pending.
Sandoval-Moshenberg said further information would be posted on the court docket. No new hearing date was announced.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
