Costa Rican official says country willing to accept Abrego Garcia, contradicting Trump administration officials

A top Costa Rican official said the country is still willing to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia, contradicting statements made by U.S. government officials in court earlier this week.

"Costa Rica's offer to receive Mr. Abrego Garcia for humanitarian reasons remains in place," Mario Zamora, Costa Rica's minister of security, told ABC News in a statement. "My letter dated August 25, 2025, is the official position of the government."

In the letter, which ABC News obtained in August, Zamora said the country is willing to provide Abrego Garcia with refugee status or residency.

Zamora's statement comes one day after John Cantu, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement Official, testified in U.S. District Court in Maryland that removal to Costa Rica, Abrego Garcia's preferred destination, is "not an option at the moment."

"Mr. Cantu, when you say Costa Rica is not an option for removal ... where does that come from?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis interjected.

"Counsel," Cantu said, referring to a State Department attorney. 

During the hearing, Cantu also struggled to answer questions about a sworn declaration he signed regarding the government's communications with Costa Rica.

"Sitting here today, you could not tell me whether anyone from the State Department has been in touch with Costa Rica since Aug. 21, to determine whether communications have changed?" asked Sascha Rand, an attorney for Abrego Garcia. 

"That's right," Cantu replied. 

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Before Thursday's hearing, DOJ attorneys had also repeatedly said in court filings that Costa Rica was off the table without providing an explanation. 

Abrego Garcia's attorneys have argued the government has "cycled through" four third-country destinations -- Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and now Liberia -- without providing "the notice, opportunity to be heard and individualized assessment that due process requires."

In a statement, Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, "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." 

Earlier this month, DOJ attorneys argued in court filings that the preliminary injunction blocking Abrego Garcia's removal to Liberia should be dissolved because the government received assurances from the government of the West African country that he will not be persecuted or tortured.

Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution -- after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.

He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty. His criminal trial is scheduled to begin in January.

Abrego Garcia's deportation is currently blocked by Xinis pending the resolution of the habeas case challenging his removal.

He is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.