NASHVILLE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain temporarily in jail at the request of his own attorneys, who cited conflicting positions taken by the government over whether he is at risk for immediate deportation.
An order issued Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes keeps Abrego in the custody of the U.S. Marshals until a July 16 hearing in Nashville.
The order also directs the U.S. Marshals to hold him “separately from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal” and to ensure he is able to privately confer with his attorneys.
Abrego, an apprentice sheet metal worker living in Maryland, was deported to a Salvadoran prison in March after a traffic stop as the Trump administration began ramping up immigration enforcement efforts.
A government lawyer later admitted Abrego, who entered the country illegally about a decade ago, had been deported in error. A 2019 order from an immigration judge prevents him from being deported to his native El Salvador due to fears of gang violence. The Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate his return.
A grand jury indictment unsealed June 6 alleged Abrego served for years as a paid driver to transport immigrants who had crossed the U.S. border illegally to points around the country.
Abrego, 29, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Attorneys for Abrego, who initially sought his pretrial release over the objection of federal prosecutors, last week asked for a delay due to “contradictory statements” made by government officials over his potential deportation.
Both federal prosecutors and Abrego’s attorneys have conceded he will most likely be taken into the immediate custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials should he be granted pretrial release.
But government attorneys in Abrego’s separate immigration case told a Maryland judge last week that they expected ICE to begin the process of sending Abrego to a “third country.” The attorneys did not provide a timeline.
A White House spokesperson later denied Abrego would face imminent deportation.
In arguing their client be temporarily kept in jail, Abrego’s attorneys acknowledged the “irony” of their request.
“In a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further. And yet the government — a government that has, at all levels, told the American people that it is bringing Mr. Abrego back home to the United States to face ‘American justice’ — apparently has little interest in actually bringing this case to trial.”
This article was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout.
