A senior Costa Rican official says the country remains prepared to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia, directly contradicting claims from U.S. government witnesses and filings this week that Costa Rica is not currently an option for his removal.
“Costa Rica’s offer to receive Mr. Abrego Garcia for humanitarian reasons remains in place,” Costa Rica’s Minister of Security Mario Zamora said in a statement to ABC News. He added that a letter he sent on August 25, 2025, reflects the government’s official position.
In that letter, obtained by ABC News in August, Zamora wrote that Costa Rica is willing to grant Abrego Garcia refugee status or residency.
Zamora’s comments come a day after John Cantu, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, testified in U.S. District Court in Maryland that deporting Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica — his preferred destination — “is not an option at the moment.”
When Judge Paula Xinis pressed him for the basis of that statement, Cantu pointed to a State Department attorney, saying only, “Counsel.”
Cantu also struggled to clarify the government’s recent communications with Costa Rica, particularly regarding a sworn declaration he signed about those contacts. Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Sascha Rand, asked whether anyone from the State Department had reached out to Costa Rica since August 21 to confirm whether the country’s stance had changed.
“That’s right,” Cantu replied, indicating he could not say whether such communication had occurred.
In recent court filings, Department of Justice attorneys have repeatedly asserted that Costa Rica was no longer under consideration, but have not offered a public explanation. Abrego Garcia’s legal team says the government has shifted among multiple third-country destinations — including Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and most recently Liberia — without providing the procedural safeguards they argue are required.
“The government has lost all credibility in its denials that anything other than punishment is motivating its desperate insistence on sending my client to an African country, any African country,” said Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.
Earlier this month, DOJ lawyers urged the court to lift a preliminary injunction blocking removal to Liberia, arguing the West African nation had provided assurances that Abrego Garcia would not face persecution or torture there.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his wife and children when he was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to El Salvador because of fears of persecution. The Trump administration has alleged he is a member of MS-13, which he denies.
He was returned to the U.S. in June to face federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty, and his criminal trial is set for January.
For now, Judge Xinis has kept Abrego Garcia’s deportation blocked while his habeas case proceeds. He is currently being held at a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
