By Travis Loeller and Ben Finley
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers urged a federal judge in Tennessee on Friday to postpone his release from custody due to conflicting claims made by the administration of President Donald Trump on whether or not he will be deported after being released.
Abrego Garcia has been getting ready to be released by a federal judge in Nashville to stand trial for alleged human smuggling. However, she has been waiting because she fears that U.S. immigration authorities will quickly arrest him and attempt to deport him once more.
Following remarks made by Trump administration officials, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are now requesting that the judge keep him in custody because they cannot trust the Justice Department’s position on this matter.
The lawyers wrote that no one is unaware of the irony of this request.
When construction worker Abrego Garcia, who had been residing in Maryland, was inadvertently deported to his home country of El Salvador in March, he became a focal point for Trump’s strict immigration policy. Trump’s Republican administration brought him back this month to face the smuggling allegations, which his lawyers have called absurd, in response to increasing pressure and a Supreme Court ruling.
The Justice Department plans to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before deporting him, according to Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin, who told The Associated Press on Thursday. Garcia has been charged with heinous crimes, such as trafficking children, and will never again be allowed to live freely in our nation.
The U.S. government intends to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country that is not El Salvador, Justice Department lawyer Jonathan Guynn informed a federal judge in Maryland just hours ago. Guynn stated that the plans for deportation had no timetable.
In their brief on Friday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers stated that Guynn’s remarks marked the first time the government had told anybody that it intended to deport Mr. Abrego to a third country right away rather than returning him to El Salvador after a trial on these allegations.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys’ complaint also referenced a post made by White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson on X on Thursday: According to Jackson, Abrego Garcia was sent back to the US to stand trial for the serious accusations made against him. For his offenses, he will be subject to the full weight of the American legal system, which includes going to prison.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia wrote on Friday that the Trump administration had brought him back just to find him guilty in a court of public opinion.
His lawyers claimed that in a fair world, he wouldn’t try to extend his incarceration. However, it appears that the administration, which at all levels has informed the American people that it is bringing Mr. Abrego back to the United States to face American justice, is not very interested in seeing this matter through to trial.
The judge has been urged by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to postpone his release until a hearing on July 16 to review prosecutors’ motion to rescind his release order as he awaits trial.
On June 13, Abrego Garcia entered a not guilty plea to smuggling allegations, which his lawyers have described as an effort to defend his unjustified deportation from a renowned El Salvadorian prison.
Related Articles
-
Sean Diddy Combs lawyer mocks sex trafficking case in closing, says charges badly exaggerated
-
Today in History: June 27, Hurricane Audrey makes Gulf Coast landfall
-
Home reportedly owned by Brad Pitt was ransacked by burglars, police say
-
Judge blocks Georgia s social media age verification law, citing free speech concerns
-
Louisiana is latest state to redefine natural gas a planet-warming fossil fuel as green energy
The Trump administration broke a 2019 ruling from a U.S. immigration judge that prohibited Abrego Garcia from being sent back to his home country when it deported him in March. Abrego Garcia and his family had been terrorized by gangs, which the immigration judge said posed a real threat.
Abrego Garcia faces ongoing allegations related to people smuggling after being pulled up for speeding in Tennessee in 2022 while operating a car carrying nine passengers without any luggage.
In her decision on Sunday, Nashville U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes stated that federal prosecutors had not proven Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a community danger.
Holmes imposed some requirements on Abrego Garcia’s release during a court hearing on Wednesday, including that he reside in Maryland with his brother, a U.S. citizen. However, she delayed his release because she was worried that prosecutors wouldn’t be able to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting him.
Finley was based in Norfolk, Virginia.
