U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, on Thursday authorized the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to transfer Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facility in Pennsylvania to another federal facility in Tennessee, where he will be allowed to attend the evidentiary hearing called as part of his effort to prove the human smuggling case against him is being vindictively prosecuted.
News that Abrego Garcia would be transferred to Tennessee first emerged through a filing by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys representing the DHS in the civil immigration lawsuits brought by the alleged human smuggler over the government’s desire to fulfill his 2019 deportation order, who submitted an unopposed motion for Abrego Garcia to be transferred on Thursday.
The filing notified Xinis of the evidentiary hearing on Tuesday and Wednesday, but also noted that Xinis previously ordered ICE detain Abrego Garcia no more than 200 miles away from her courtroom until she issues a final decision in his lawsuit.
In her subsequent order, Xinis granted DHS narrow permission to, “transport Petitioner to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee,” to attend the hearing. They may also make the necessary, “arrangements for his detention as are appropriate to allow him to attend the multi-day hearing,” before returning him to an ICE facility no more than 200 miles away from the courtroom three days later.
Originally deported under contested circumstances in March, Abrego Garcia was returned to Tennessee in June, when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi unsealed the indictment accusing him of spending nearly a decade embroiled in a human smuggling ring.
The indictment followed April reporting by The Tennessee Star, which revealed that Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) on November 30, 2022. A spokesman for THP told The Star that troopers were instructed to release Abrego Garcia by the “Biden-era FBI,” despite a DHS document showing they suspected human trafficking.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the human smuggling indictment. His case is currently scheduled to reach trial in January 2026, but the DOJ recently confirmed DHS would deport Abrego Garcia without resolving the criminal case if Xinis lifts her injunction blocking his deportation.
U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw, another Obama appointee, called the evidentiary hearing at the request of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys on October 16, after citing a June interview by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, as well as the resignation of a DOJ attorney from Middle Tennessee, as possible evidence of vindictive prosecution.
The DOJ recently announced to the court that it expects the former attorney to testify at the evidentiary hearing and does not object to his presence, while Blanche was recently subpoenaed to attend.
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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].
What a waste of time, money and human resources on a thug that should have been out of the country years ago. This stuff cannot be made up. Crazy!