(AP) – Federal prosecutors told a judge in Maryland on Thursday that the government plans to initiate removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia and to deport him to a country that is not his native El Salvador upon his release from a Tennessee jail.
But the prosecutors also said that they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia earlier asked the judge in Maryland to order his return to that state when he is released from jail, an arrangement that would prevent likely attempts by immigration officials to quickly deport Abrego Garcia.
The Maryland construction worker became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies after he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. He’s been in jail in Tennessee since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7 to face federal charges of human smuggling.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. But she decided Wednesday to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in Maryland, where his wife is suing Trump’s Republican administration over his March deportation, have offered up a possible solution. They’ve asked the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit to direct the government to bring him to Maryland while he awaits trial in Tennessee.
“If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland,” Abrego Garcia’s attorneys wrote in their request to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland, just outside Washington, with his American wife and children for more than a decade. His deportation violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that barred his expulsion to his native country. The judge had found that Abrego Garcia faced a credible threat from gangs who had terrorized him and his family.
The Trump administration described its violation of the immigration judge’s 2019 order as an administrative error. Trump and other officials doubled down on claims Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang, an accusation that Abrego Garcia denies.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken expulsion to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Those charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers without luggage.
Holmes, the magistrate judge in Tennessee, wrote in a ruling on Sunday that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, Holmes set specific conditions for his release that included Abrego Garcia living with his brother, a U.S. citizen, in Maryland. But she held off on releasing him over concerns that prosecutors can’t prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting him.
Holmes expressed doubts about her own power to require anything more than prosecutors using their best efforts to secure the cooperation of ICE.
“I have no reservations about my ability to direct the local U.S. Attorney’s office,” the judge said. “I don’t think I have any authority over ICE.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire told the judge he would do “the best I can” to secure the cooperation of ICE. But the prosecutor noted, “That’s a separate agency with separate leadership and separate directions. I will coordinate, but I can’t tell them what to do.”
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