Trump admin still trying to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Africa
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A hearing for Kilmar Ábrego Garcia which was expected to determine whether the man mistakenly sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador would be deported to Liberia was abruptly canceled Tuesday for reasons that were not immediately clear.
The government is moving to vacate a preliminary injunction put in place by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis preventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining and deporting Ábrego Garcia to the West African country of Liberia. His legal team is seeking to make the injunction permanent. The judge left previous orders in place last December and ordered him released from custody.
Abrego Garcia was in the courtroom Tuesday but Judge Xinis never took the bench. Instead attorneys for both sides left the courtroom about five minutes before the hearing was supposed to begin. They held a 15-minute conference and then the hearing was canceled. No announcement was made in court as to why the hearing was canceled.