Overview
- Costa Rican Security Minister Mario Zamora Cordero said the country remains ready to receive Kilmar Abrego García on humanitarian grounds and grant legal residency without further negotiations.
- Justice Department lawyers told a court on Nov. 7 that State advised Liberia was the only country willing to accept him without additional commitments, a claim Costa Rica now disputes.
- U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis continues to block removal and, at a recent hearing, pressed the government on why it could not send him to Costa Rica as he has offered to go.
- Proceedings have exposed procedural defects, including the administration’s admission that no final removal order exists and testimony that parts of a sworn declaration were drafted by a State Department lawyer.
- Abrego García’s defense has asked a Tennessee judge to consider the government’s statements about Costa Rica as evidence of vindictive and selective prosecution and is seeking discovery, while he remains in custody after pleading not guilty to human-smuggling charges.