logo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers ask judge to delay release from jail over deportation fears

Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers ask judge to delay release from jail over deportation fears

Independent2 days ago
Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked a federal judge in Tennessee to delay releasing him from jail in order to prevent the Trump administration from trying to swiftly deport the Maryland construction worker.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. in Nashville is expected to rule soon on whether to free Abrego Garcia while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges. If the Salvadoran national is released, U.S. officials have said he would be immediately detained by immigration authorities and targeted for deportation.
Abrego Garcia became a prominent face in the debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That expulsion violated a U.S. immigration judge's order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there.
The administration claimed that Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang, although he wasn't charged and has repeatedly denied the allegation. Facing mounting pressure and a U.S. Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called 'preposterous.'
The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police in Tennessee suspected human smuggling, but he was allowed to drive on.
U.S. officials have said they'll try to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that isn't El Salvador, such as Mexico or South Sudan, before his trial starts in January because they allege he's a danger to the community.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville ruled a month ago that Abrego Garcia is eligible for release after she determined he's not a flight risk or a danger. Abrego Garcia's attorneys asked her to keep him in jail over deportation concerns.
Holmes' ruling is being reviewed by Crenshaw after federal prosecutors filed a motion to revoke her release order.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys initially argued for his release but changed their strategy because of the government's plans to deport him if he is set free. With Crenshaw's decision imminent, Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed a motion Sunday night for a 30-day stay of any release order. The request would allow Abrego Garcia to 'evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary.'
Earlier this month, U.S. officials detailed their plans to try to expel Abrego Garcia in a federal court in Maryland. That's where Abrego Garcia's American wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is suing the Trump administration over his wrongful deportation in March and is trying to prevent another expulsion.
U.S. officials have argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally around 2011 and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, although not to his native El Salvador.
Following the immigration judge's decision in 2019, Abrego Garcia was released under federal supervision, received a federal work permit and checked in with ICE each year, his attorneys have said. But U.S. officials recently stated in court documents that they revoked Abrego Garcia's supervised release.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys in Maryland have asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to order the federal government to send Abrego Garcia to that state to await his trial, a bid that seeks to prevent deportation.
His lawyers also asked Xinis to issue at least a 72-hour hold that would prevent immediate deportation if he's released from jail in Tennessee. Xinis has not ruled on either request.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘It's racist': Latino tenants who sued their landlord got threatening message about ICE
‘It's racist': Latino tenants who sued their landlord got threatening message about ICE

The Independent

time22 minutes ago

  • The Independent

‘It's racist': Latino tenants who sued their landlord got threatening message about ICE

A Los Angeles area family of Latino renters suing their landlord over a 2024 eviction claim they were met with a thinly veiled threat that they would be picked up by immigration agents, amid the ongoing, high-profile campaign of raids across the city. 'It's not fair for him to take advantage of that,' former tenant Yicenia Morales told The Los Angeles Times. 'I was born here. I have a birth certificate. I pay taxes.' 'I was already depressed over the eviction,' she added. 'Now I'm hurt, embarrassed and nervous as well. Will he really call ICE on us?' 'It's racist,' her attorney, Sarah McCracken, added in an interview with the paper. 'Not only is it unethical and probably illegal, but it's just a really wild thing to say — especially since my clients are U.S. citizens.' The controversy stems from a June message from attorney Rod Fehlman, whom Morales and her lawyers at the firm Tobener Ravenscroft said they saw in state records was the legal point of contact for landlord Celia Ruiz and her real estate agent David Benavides. In the midst of a back-and-forth over the case in June, Fehlman sent an aggressive message referencing recent arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, McCracken said. 'It is also interesting to note that your clients are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial thanks to all the good work the Trump administration has done in regards to immigration in California,' Fehlman told the renters' legal team in email after being served this summer, according to McCracken. Fehlman told The Independent he cannot comment on 'ongoing litigation,' but said the message was taken out of context. Instead of a threat, he said, he was warning Morales's San Francisco-based lawyer about the ongoing pattern of ICE agents arresting immigrants at courthouses and immigration offices. 'My email mentions nothing about Ms. McCracken's client's citizenship,' Fehlman wrote in an email. 'This is an ongoing problem in Southern California and a sad reality that litigants have been picked randomly at Courthouses. It is unfortunate that this comment has been taken out of context intentionally by Ms. McCracken's firm and used to defame my office.' (The real estate agent named in the suit responded to the complaint with a different law firm than Fehlman's, according to the Times, and the renters have been unable to serve the landlord with the complaint yet. Fehlman did not respond to a question regarding which parties he was or had been representing in the eviction dispute.) McCracken told The Independent she was taken aback by her exchanges with Fehlman. 'This case doesn't involve my client's race or ethnicity or immigration status, or at least it didn't until he made that comment,' she said. 'We just thought it was irrelevant and an inappropriate way to try and get an edge in the case.' The Independent has contacted Morales for comment. Real estate agent Benavides, when reached by The Independent, hung up. On Tuesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned that discriminating, retaliating against, or attempting to influence tenants based on their immigration status, including by reporting tenants to immigration services, is illegal. 'California tenants — no matter their immigration status — have a right to safe housing and to access housing documents in a language they can understand,' Bonta said in a statement. 'I will use the full force of my office to go after those who seek to take advantage of California tenants during an already challenging time.' McCracken said she has encountered landlords making verbal comments about ICE to tenants in the past. Now, however, she said people seem 'emboldened' to make boundary-pushing spoken and written comments about race and immigration status to renters under the second Trump administration, based on what she has heard from potential clients and legal colleagues. Renters have faced threats over their immigration status predating the second Trump term, too. In 2019, a New York judge fined a landlord $5,000 and ordered the payment of $12,000 in damages to a tenant who was threatened with ICE if they didn't pay rent, thought to be the first such case in the country. Earlier this year, an Illinois judge ruled on a similar case, dating back to 2022. Under the Trump administration, with its mass expansion of military-style immigration raids, unscrupulous individuals have also allegedly impersonated ICE to achieve unsavory ends, including a January incident in which a North Carolina man allegedly pretended to be an immigration agent to coerce a woman into having sex.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release from jail as ICE blocked from immediately deporting him
Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release from jail as ICE blocked from immediately deporting him

The Independent

time22 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release from jail as ICE blocked from immediately deporting him

The federal judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's criminal case on smuggling charges has ordered his release from jail before trial, finding that prosecutors failed to show 'any evidence' that his history or arguments against him warrant his ongoing detention. That order arrived moments after another federal judge overseeing his wrongful deportation case blocked Donald Trump's administration from immediately arresting and deporting him following his release from jail. Federal prosecutors have sought to bring his criminal case to trial as soon as possible. But immigration officials had told the court they intend to arrest and deport him before a trial even begins. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty, and a trial is set to begin January 27, 2026. The judge referred conditions of his release to a magistrate judge overseeing the case. The Trump administration spent weeks insisting Abrego Garcia would never be allowed back to the country after admitting he was wrongfully deported to a Salvadoran prison in March. Yet he was abruptly flown back to the United States last month to face a criminal indictment in Tennessee. In recent court hearings in two different states, lawyers for the Department of Justice said they would only move forward with his criminal prosecution if he remains in custody while awaiting trial. On Wednesday, Tennessee District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw said the government 'fails to show by a preponderance of the evidence — let alone clear and convincing evidence — that Abrego is such a danger to others or the community that such concerns cannot be mitigated by conditions of release.' 'At bottom,' the judge wrote, 'the Government fails to provide any evidence that there is something in Abrego's history, or his exhibited characteristics, that warrants detention.' Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis, meanwhile, has blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from immediately detaining Abrego Garcia, if he is released from federal custody. She also ordered ICE to give him 72 hours' notice if officials decide to deport Abrego Garcia to a so-called 'third country,' or anywhere other than his native El Salvador. The administration has 'done little to assure the Court that absent intervention, Abrego Garcia's due process rights will be protected,' she wrote.

Judge bars ICE from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he's released from jail
Judge bars ICE from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he's released from jail

The Independent

time22 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Judge bars ICE from immediately taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he's released from jail

A federal judge in Maryland has prohibited the Trump administration from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immediate immigration custody if he's released from jail in Tennessee while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, according to an order issued Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the U.S. government to provide notice of three business days if Immigration and Customs Enforcement intends to initiate deportation proceedings against the Maryland construction worker. The judge also ordered the government to restore the federal supervision that Abrego Garcia was under before he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That supervision had allowed Abrego Garcia to live and work in Maryland for years, while he periodically checked in with ICE. Abrego Garcia became a prominent face in the debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policies following his wrongful explusion to El Salvador in March. Trump's administration violated a U.S. immigration judge's order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store