A federal judge expressed frustration with Justice Department lawyers at a hearing Friday to assess the Trump administration's efforts to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported by ICE to El Salvador, to countries in Africa.

Abrego Garcia is back in the United States in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but remains protected from deportation to his home country.

US District Judge Paula Xinis is considering arguments from Abrego Garcia's attorneys, who contends that the administration is unlawfully punishing their client by sending him to several African countries that won't accept him instead of honoring his request to be deported to Costa Rica.

Abrego Garcia's attorneys argue that the judge should release their client. The judge said she will issue a written ruling later.

“They've gone around the world and picked out several locations that they can identify, either to target him for political purposes, or just to purposefully fail to select locations that would be completely unacceptable to Mr. Abrego Garcia,” attorney Andrew Rossman said. In August, the government indicated it would remove Abrego Garcia to Uganda. After he expressed fear, the government sought to send him to Eswatini, a small, landlocked African country.

The government has sought to deport Abrego-Garcia while his criminal trafficking case is resolved in Tennessee, but Xinis issued an order in August blocking immigration officials from removing him from the United States.

Abrego-Garcia's attorneys have sought their client's release from federal immigration detention while his case is resolved, citing a 2001 Supreme Court decision that found federal law does not allow “indefinite detention” for those the government seeks to deport.

Detention must be limited to a “period reasonably necessary” to effect removal from the United States, the high court ruled.

Xinis is considering releasing Abrego Garcia from immigration custody while the challenge to his detention proceeds.