One day after a judge outlined the conditions for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s potential release on bail in his human smuggling case, his attorneys filed an emergency motion Thursday requesting that he be returned to Maryland while awaiting trial.
However, a government attorney informed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that if Abrego Garcia is released on bond, the administration intends to deport him to a country other than his native El Salvador, ABC News reported on Thursday.
Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison despite a 2019 court order prohibiting his removal to that country due to fears of persecution, was returned to the United States earlier this month to face charges in Tennessee. He is accused of transporting undocumented migrants while residing in Maryland and has pleaded not guilty.
On Wednesday, he appeared in a Tennessee courtroom, where the presiding judge ordered both his attorneys and the Justice Department to submit briefs on whether the government can legally prevent his deportation while he awaits trial.
During a scheduling conference Thursday afternoon in Maryland, Xinis questioned government attorney Jonathan Guynn about the Department of Homeland Security’s plans following Abrego Garcia’s expected release order from the Tennessee court.
“Our plan is to — he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated,” said Guynn, per ABC. Xinis then asked if it would be to El Salvador or another country.
“To a third country, is my understanding,” Guynn said, as Xinis then asked about the timeline for removal.
“My understanding is there is no timeline,” the federal lawyer said. Xinis asked if that meant 30 seconds, 30 minutes, or 30 days. “I’ll just say there are no imminent plans to remove him to a third country,” Guynn responded.
In an emergency motion filed Thursday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys requested that he be returned to Maryland, where he had been living with his wife and children, and asked that the government be barred from removing him from the continental United States or transferring him out of Maryland.
“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 attorney wrote to Xinis.
Xinis stated she would not have a decision on the matter by Friday, when both sides in his criminal case are expected to submit briefs regarding the terms of his potential release, ABC reported.
The remarks come amid efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to deport some migrants not to their countries of origin, but to conflict-ridden nations such as South Sudan and Libya, The Hill noted.
Following a Supreme Court order requiring the Trump administration to facilitate his return, Abrego Garcia was brought back to Tennessee to face human trafficking charges related to a 2022 traffic stop in which he claimed he was transporting workers.
The Department of Justice has since charged him with unlawful transportation of illegal immigrants and a related conspiracy offense.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville ruled that Abrego Garcia has the right to be released while awaiting trial, finding that he does not pose a flight risk or a danger to the community.
She outlined conditions for his release, including that he reside with his brother—a U.S. citizen—in Maryland. However, Holmes has delayed his release due to concerns that prosecutors may not be able to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting him, The Hill added.
“I have no reservations about my ability to direct the local U.S. attorney’s office,” the judge said during court proceedings this week. “I don’t think I have any authority over Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
