A top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is set to testify Thursday about the steps the Trump administration has taken to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the West African country of Liberia, as the Trump administration continues its push to remove him from the U.S. ahead of his criminal trial on human smuggling charges next year.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration urged U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to lift an August order that prevents Abrego Garcia from being deported to a third-party country without due process, arguing that the government has gone through all the necessary steps to remove Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia’s case has been a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown since the Salvadoran immigrant was removed from where he lived in Maryland to his native country in March. He was sent to El Salvador even though in 2019, an immigration judge granted him a legal status known as withholding of removal because of concerns Abrego Garcia  could be persecuted by gangs there.