NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Lawyers representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia have requested a federal judge in Tennessee to postpone his release from prison due to conflicting statements made by President Donald Trump’s administration regarding whether he will face deportation after his release.
The federal judge in Nashville had been ready to set Abrego Garcia free while he awaited trial for charges related to human smuggling. However, she has delayed the release due to fears that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might promptly take him into custody to initiate deportation proceedings once again.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team is now urging the judge to keep him in detention based on recent statements from Trump administration officials, as they express a lack of confidence in any assurances provided by the Department of Justice on this matter.
“The irony of this request is not lost on anyone,” the attorneys wrote.
Abrego Garcia, a construction worker who had been living in Maryland, became a flashpoint over Trump’s hard-line immigration policies when he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. Facing mounting pressure and a Supreme Court order, Trump’s Republican administration returned him this month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called “preposterous.”
In a response to the request by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys on Friday, acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire agreed to delaying Abrego Garcia’s release. He reiterated his stance that Abrego Garcia should remain in jail before trial and that he lacks jurisdiction over ICE, stating that he has no way to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond directly to a question from The Associated Press regarding its plans for Abrego Garcia. A DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement that “he will never go free on American soil.”
Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press on Thursday that the department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him, stating that Abrego Garcia “has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again.”
Hours earlier, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a “third country” that isn’t El Salvador. Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys on Friday cited Guynn’s comments as a reason to fear he would be deported “immediately.” They accused the Trump administration of bringing Abrego Garcia back “to convict him in the court of public opinion” with the intention of deporting him before he has a chance to defend himself at trial.
“In a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further,” his attorneys wrote.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have asked the judge to delay his release until a July 16 court hearing, which will consider a request by prosecutors to revoke Abrego Garcia’s release order while he awaits trial.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken expulsion to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
When the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia in March, it violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that barred his expulsion to his native country. The immigration judge had found that Abrego Garcia faced a credible threat from gangs that had terrorized him and his family.
The human smuggling charges pending against Abrego Garcia stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers without luggage.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville wrote in a ruling Sunday that federal prosecutors failed to show that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk or a danger to the community.
During a court hearing Wednesday, Holmes set specific conditions for Abrego Garcia’s release that included him living with his brother, a U.S. citizen, in Maryland. But she held off on releasing him over concerns that prosecutors can’t prevent ICE from deporting him.
Finley reported from Norfolk, Va.
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