By Jason Hopkins
The Trump administration has identified a new African country that’s willing to accept suspected gangbanger and wife-beater Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Federal immigration authorities plan to send Abrego Garcia to the African country of Liberia and hope to do so as soon as Oct. 31, according to court documents filed on Friday. Accused of being an MS-13 gang member and charged with smuggling illegal migrants across the U.S., Abrego Garcia became one of the biggest names in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration after he was deported to his home country of El Salvador earlier this year despite a withholding of removal order. (RELATED: California’s Non-Compliance Led To Fatal Crash Involving Illegal Migrant Trucker, DOT Says)
Since his return to the U.S. in June, federal prosecutors have repeatedly sparred with his attorneys on a new removal destination for the illegal migrant.
“Federal Defendants hereby provide notice that they have identified a new country for removal that has agreed to accept Petitioner: the Republic of Liberia,” attorneys for the Justice Department stated. “Although Petitioner has identified more than twenty countries that he purports to fear would persecute or torture him if he were removed there, Liberia is not on that list.”
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – AUGUST 25: Kilmar Abrego Garcia goes through security as he arrives at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the U.S.’s closest partners on the African continent,” the DOJ went on, noting that English is the national language of the country, presumably making it easier for Abrego Garcia to acclimate. “Liberia also is committed to the humane treatment of refugees.”
Federal prosecutors in September had suggested Eswatini, a tiny country in southern Africa, as a likely destination for the Salvadoran national. Before that, the administration considered Uganda as a possible location. However, Abrego Garcia has repeatedly expressed fear of virtually every country that is named as a possible destination for deportation.
“Currently, you are designated to be removed to Uganda,” read a September email from federal immigration authorities to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers. “Your attorney has informed us, however, that you fear persecution or torture in Uganda. That claim of fear is hard to take seriously, especially given that you have claimed (through your attorneys) that you fear persecution or torture in at least 22 different countries.”
The countries Abrego Garcia allegedly fears include Uganda, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
It’s not immediately clear if the Trump administration can deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia by the end of the month. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee overseeing his case in Maryland, ordered that he remain detained in the U.S. until an evidentiary hearing is held.
Federal prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member who spent his time in the U.S. smuggling illegal migrants, drugs and guns, according to a grand jury indictment. The human smuggling allegations stem from a 2022 Tennessee highway stop in which local law enforcement caught him driving eight passengers across the country, none of whom had any luggage and all provided Abrego Garcia’s address as their own.
While an outspoken defender of her husband since his deportation to El Salvador, Jennifer Vasquez Sura had repeatedly accused him of domestic abuse in 2020 and 2021, including allegations that he punched and scratched her eye, dragged her out of a vehicle and gave her other alleged beatdowns. The illegal migrant’s wife has since attempted to downplay her past allegations, framing them as isolated incidents.
