Federal prosecutors told a judge on Thursday that if Kilmar Abrego Garcia is released from a Tennessee jail, the Trump administration will begin removal proceedings to deport him to a country other than his native El Salvador.
When U.S. Magistrate Judge Paula Xinis inquired about the timing of the removal: “30 seconds, 30 days, 30 months…”, a federal prosecutor only stated that the removal was not “imminent.”
Xinis has scheduled a hearing on the issue for July 7. The Justice Department announced on Thursday evening that Abrego Garcia will stand trial on smuggling charges.
“This defendant has been charged with heinous crimes, including child trafficking, and will never be free in our country again,” a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News.
The issue is whether the judge has the authority to order Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to Maryland. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys want Xinis to order the government to return their client to Maryland and prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee is pending.
Abrego Garcia is currently in federal custody after being indicted on human smuggling charges, which he denies.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed an emergency motion on Thursday, requesting that a judge order his return to Maryland and prevent immigration officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee is pending.
They told Judge Xinis that they are concerned “that the government may try to remove Mr. Gregor Garcia quickly over the weekend.”
Another federal judge in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has the right to be released pending trial. However, on Wednesday, she decided to keep him in custody for at least a few more days, citing concerns that US immigration officials would quickly try to deport him again.
“If this Court does not act quickly, the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to someplace far from Maryland,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote in their request to Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland with his American wife and children when he was deported to El Slavador in what the Trump administration described as an administrative error. He had lived in the United States for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration claims Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which he denies. In addition, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, obtained a protective order against him in August 2020.
The order stated that their shared son and stepchildren required protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children.
Earlier this month, Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to smuggling allegations.
