A top Costa Rican official says his country remains willing to accept Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia for humanitarian relocation, directly contradicting statements from the Donald Trump administration that removal to Costa Rica was not an option.
Costa Rican Security Minister Mario Zamora told ABC News that "Costa Rica’s offer to receive Mr. Abrego Garcia for humanitarian reasons remains in place" and referred to his letter of Aug. 25, 2025, as "the official position of the government."
The letter, obtained by ABC News, stated Costa Rica is willing to provide Abrego Garcia refugee status or residency.
In contrast, during recent testimony in U.S. District Court in Maryland, a senior official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asserted that removal to Costa Rica is "not an option at the moment."
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March 2025 to the high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador despite a 2019 court order that barred his return to that country because of gang-related risk.
He was subsequently brought back to the United States in June to face human-smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he pleaded not guilty; his criminal trial is scheduled to begin in January.
The discrepancy between the U.S. government’s position and Costa Rica’s public statement raises questions about the administration’s handling of third-country removal agreements and the transparency of its decision-making.
For the Trump administration, which has made immigration enforcement a signature issue, such divergences carry political weight.
Earlier filings from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had argued that the only country prepared to accept Abrego Garcia without further diplomatic commitments was the West African nation of Liberia.
Legal counsel for Abrego Garcia contends the government has "cycled through" multiple countries, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia, while withholding adequate due process.
"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," stated.
From the perspective of the Trump administration, maintaining the ability to deport criminal undocumented immigrants through alternative destinations, rather than standard procedures, signals a more assertive posture on enforcement.
The divergence with Costa Rica suggests diplomatic complications for such an enforcement model.
Costa Rica’s readiness to accept Abrego Garcia also presents a potential pathway for the case’s resolution.
If the country follows through, the government could remove a detainee subject to a court-blocked deportation to his home country and face fewer legal constraints than if removing him to El Salvador.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government must reconcile its public representations to the courts with the reality of foreign governments' willingness.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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