FROM FOX NEWS: A federal judge in Maryland on Friday vowed to issue an order “as soon as possible” in a case involving the legal status of Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the Trump administration’s plans to deport him from the U.S. to a third country within days — capping an extraordinary marathon hearing in his case that stretched for nearly seven hours — and has dominated headlines and federal court dockets for as many months.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis adjourned the court Friday evening with a promise to order on the matter as quickly as possible. Much of the hearing, however, was punctuated by incredulous objections from Xinis and frequent requests to “sidebar” with lawyers arguing both sides of the case.
Many of the crucial details emerged after hours of grueling questioning with John Schultz, the deputy assistant director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, whom the government produced as its witness.
Despite his 20 years of experience at DHS, he appeared to know little about the case in question. He failed to answer most of the questions Xinis asked about the government’s plans to deport Abrego Garcia — including basic questions on who within DHS’s ranks had been assigned to handle Abrego Garcia’s case, and the status of various requests for deportation and communications with the countries it had identified.
Xinis made considerable efforts to understand where the government could send Abrego Garcia. Despite offering three African countries as an option — Uganda, Ghana, and Eswatini– the government could not provide proof that any would accept him. In fact, only Eswatini is still in negotiations to take him, according to the report. Uganda and Ghana have flatly refused to accept Abrego Garcia.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica has agreed to take Abrego Garcia. His lawyers told the court that if ICE agrees to send him there, Abrego Garcia is “willing and able to board a plane immediately” to go to Costa Rica.
The government of Costa Rica has made certain assurances to the U.S. regarding its acceptance of Abrego Garcia, including granting him refugee status and that it won’t deport him to his home country of El Salvador, in keeping with a U.S. immigration judge’s 2019 court order.
Failure to immediately deport Abrego Garcia should lead to his immediate release from immigration detention, his attorney, Andrew Rossman, argued. Otherwise, Rossman said, “the government has not and is not currently detaining Mr. Abrego for purposes of effectuating his lawful removal,” but as a means of punishment.
Rossman pointed to the fact that no other country has given assurances that they would take him, saying the government’s goal appears to be “to identify a series of countries that bear no connection to Abrego Garcia and that have not indicated any willingness to take him.”
“Prior to Monday, what efforts did the government make to find a third country that would accept Abrego?” Xinis asked Trump administration officials.
When they did not appear to have an answer, she said, “That’s very troubling to me.”
“Now that we know Costa Rica is on the table, have there been any conversations about removing him [there]?” she asked Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign.
He said that had not been an option.
“Why not?” Xinis pressed. “You don’t want him in the country — you’ve said that,” she said. “You have a country that will take him. You have a plaintiff who says, ‘I’ll go there.'”
The idea of the government pressing for other nations to accept him, she said, is a bit “hard to swallow.”
“I’m trying really hard to give you the benefit of the doubt,” she told Ensign, warning that it’s “getting close to “three strikes, you’re out.”
US judge vows to rule ‘soon’ on Abrego Garcia’s fate after marathon hearing https://t.co/25xcmMRXv7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 11, 2025
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