The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday informed U.S. District Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in a legal filing that “it does not oppose” the request by Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his attorneys for a delay in her ruling on whether to release the citizen of El Salvador from Department of Justice (DOJ) custody, but appeared to question the attorneys and Holmes over their apparent “surprise” that Abrego Garcia may be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Abrego Garcia’s request to remain in DOJ custody until July 16 was submitted by his attorneys in the federal case out of Tennessee after immigration lawyers representing the alleged human smuggler asked U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis to order ICE to detain Abrego Garcia in Maryland.
The immigration attorneys claimed the order was necessary to compel compliance with an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year, which demanded the Trump administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador, where it deported him in March.
After stating the DOJ does not oppose the requested delay, which would leave Abrego Garcia in the direct custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for weeks, Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire told the court that various claims by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys were incorrect.
“The Government in this case has previously and clearly advised this Court that the Defendant may face deportation should he be released from U.S. Marshals’ custody,” wrote McGuire. “Given that the Defendant was first deemed deportable back in 2019—and a copy of that order was made an exhibit to the detention hearing by the Defendant’s previous counsel— this should not be a surprise to the defense and is certainly not a surprise to this Court.”
In 2019, U.S. Immigration Judge Neil Jones issued a final order of deportation for Abrego Garcia. The order contained a “withholding of removal” provision that repeatedly mentioned Guatemala, but has nonetheless been successfully used by Abrego Garcia’s immigration attorneys to obtain rulings demanding that his return from El Salvador be facilitated by the Trump administration, including from the Supreme Court.
Referencing the deportation order, McGuire wrote that it should have been no surprise to Abrego Garcia’s attorneys that their client could be deported to a third country, because “they were not arguing functionally for his release at liberty but for his release into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where he has a detainer pending further immigration proceedings.”
Because Abrego Garcia’s final deportation order contains language preventing his removal to a specific nation, McGuire wrote, “these proceedings would logically include his potential deportation from the United States to another country.”
McGuire also denied that claim that the DOJ “threatened” to deport Abrego Garcia, “in relation to the proceedings in this case,” and claims that McGuire was instead reminding the court of Abrego Garcia’s ongoing status as an illegal immigrant subject to removal proceedings.
The Tennessee Star was the first outlet to report that Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped Abrego Garcia in November 2022, when troopers were ordered to release him by the “Biden-era FBI,” despite their suspicion he was engaged in human trafficking.
Abrego Garcia was returned from El Salvador on June 6, when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi unsealed the indictment alleging his nearly decade-long participation in a human smuggling ring. He has pleaded not guilty.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
SO SICK OF THIS POS
NO ONE BENEFITS FROM HIS STAYING ON US SOIL.
He has more name recognition than most politicians. Why do you think they make fools put of themselves to get a photo of with the criminal.
At least send him to Alligator Alcatraz while the Commies spend millions trying to win some court hearing.
I counted nine articles on one page concerning Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Fixate much??
Get this POS out of this country!
Throw all of these freeloading criminals out of America. I don’t care if Biden’s auto pen gang welcomed them all in with open arms and gave them more free stuff than REAL Americans get. And all you bleeding heart liberals out there, stuff it.
AMERICA HAS A LEGAL AVENUE FOR PEOPLE TO IMMIGRATE TO HERE LEGALLY, AND IT IS DESIGNED TO WELCOME IN ONLY THOSE WHO WANT TO BECOME AMERICAN CITIZENS AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR ECONOMY INSTEAD OF SUCKING OFF OF IT LIKE A BUNCH OF LEECHES.