Fearing Deportation, Abrego Garcia Asks to Stay in Jail for Now

(Bloomberg) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador and then brought back to the US on criminal charges, asked a judge to delay his release from jail for fear of being deported again before trial.

The request comes after a lawyer for the Trump administration told a separate federal court on Thursday that the government intended to deport Abrego Garcia to his native El Salvador again, or to a third country, when he was released from custody and before he could be tried on human smuggling charges. Hours later, the Justice Department told the Associated Press it intends to prosecute him on the charges before deporting him, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said.

“Because DOJ has made directly contradictory statements on this issue in the last 18 hours, and because we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by the DOJ, we respectfully request to delay the issuance of the release order” until a July 16 hearing, they wrote to US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville on Friday. Holmes directed the government to respond today.

The case has become a lightning rod for President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, under which the administration has increased deportations of undocumented migrants. Abrego Garcia was taken into immigration custody in March and wrongfully deported to a Salvadoran prison. The Supreme Court in April ordered the administration to facilitate his return, after the US acknowledged that a prior court order had barred his deportation to El Salvador because he could be in danger there.

But the government brought Abrego Garcia back to the US to face federal charges that he illegally transported undocumented immigrants. In announcing the charges, Attorney General Pam Bondi said an investigation had determined that he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13 — a claim he denies — and a “danger to our community.”

The Justice Department didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Friday’s filing.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers told Holmes their client had spent the last two weeks contesting his detention and the “sham” case against him. They said they had been seeking his release before trial, until the government described its intentions.

“The irony of this request is not lost on anyone,” they said in their filing. “After illegally removing Mr. Abrego to El Salvador, the government retrieved him, brought him to this district and indicted him on baseless charges.” They said “in a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further.”

The criminal case is US v. Abrego Garcia, 25-cr-115, US District Court, Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville).

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