Latest news with #Kilmar Abrego Garcia
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Abrego Garcia to remain behind bars for at least a month even as judge rejects Trump administration's claim he's dangerous
A federal judge in Tennessee declined on Wednesday to undo a separate judge's decision to let Kilmar Abrego Garcia remain free while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges — though he'll continue to remain behind bars for at least another month. The ruling from US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw said federal prosecutors had not shown 'through clear and convincing evidence' that Abrego Garcia would present a danger to others or the community if he were allowed to remain out of criminal custody as his case unfolds. 'The government's general statements about the crimes brought against Abrego, and the evidence it has in support of those crimes, do not prove Abrego's dangerousness,' Crenshaw wrote in a 37-page ruling rejecting a request from the Trump administration that he should reverse a ruling by a magistrate judge in Nashville that also said prosecutors hadn't made a strong case for keeping Abrego Garcia behind bars for now. But the magistrate judge — Barbara Holmes — said in another decision that Abrego Garcia would remain behind bars for at least 30 more days, granting an unopposed request by his lawyers for him to stay in criminal custody. Abrego Garcia's lawyers had made the request earlier this week in an effort to ensure removal proceedings wouldn't quickly begin once he's released from custody. Just as Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, released his ruling, a third judge in Maryland who is overseeing a civil case brought by Abrego Garcia and his family over his wrongful deportation earlier this year to El Salvador released her own ruling that bars the administration from quickly deporting him again should he be released from criminal custody in coming days. That ruling from US District Judge Paula Xinis, also an Obama appointee, is meant to do two things: Restore Abrego Garcia to the immigration position he was in before his deportation in mid-March and ensure his due process rights aren't violated again should officials try to remove him from the US a second time. 'These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government's lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar's due process rights,' said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, in a statement. 'After the government unlawfully deported him once without warning, this legal protection is essential.' Xinis is prohibiting the Trump administration from taking Abrego Garcia into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody once he's released from criminal custody, and she ordered officials to put him back into the position of being under supervision by the ICE Baltimore Field Office, which is what his status quo was prior to mid-March. That supervision allowed him to work and live in Maryland, with occasional check-ins with an immigration officer. 'Once Abrego Garcia is restored under the ICE Supervision Order out of the Baltimore Field Office, Defendants may take whatever action is available to them under the law,' the judge wrote, adding that it's possible he could be ordered to appear before immigration officials in Baltimore, who may begin the process of deporting him. 'So long as such actions are taken within the bounds of the Constitution and applicable statutes, this Court will have nothing further to say,' Xinis wrote. The Trump administration quickly criticized the judge's decision. 'The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest an MS-13 gang member, indicted by a grand jury for human trafficking, and subject to immigration arrest under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE,' Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X, referring to the government's allegation that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. The ruling also puts guardrails on the government's ability to quickly deport Abrego Garcia to a nation other than his home country of El Salvador. Those measures, the judge said, are meant to ensure the government won't run roughshod over Abrego Garcia's due process rights, which include having the chance to raise a claim that he has a fear of facing torture in the third country the government may want to deport him to. Should officials be planning to deport him to a third country, they must give his lawyers at least 72 hours' notice prior to that intended removal so he has an opportunity to make such 'claims of credible fear or seek any other relief available to him under the law and the Constitution.' The Maryland father of three was wrongly deported to El Salvador in mid-March, setting off a monthslong legal fracas before Xinis, who ordered the government to secure his return to the US. He was brought back to the US last month to face federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia is currently in pre-trial detention in Tennessee but could soon be released from that court's authority and turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Last month, his attorneys in the case before Xinis, of the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, raised concerns that the Trump administration would quickly deport him once he's out of criminal custody and back in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The government has wavered in recent weeks on whether they would deport him before he stands trial in the human smuggling case.' 'All we're trying to do for today is ensure that there is no constitutional violation,' Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, said during a recent court hearing. The government is already barred from removing Abrego Garcia to El Salvador because of a 2019 order from an immigration judge.
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Abrego Garcia to remain behind bars for at least a month even as judge rejects Trump administration's claim he's dangerous
A federal judge in Tennessee declined on Wednesday to undo a separate judge's decision to let Kilmar Abrego Garcia remain free while he awaits trial on human smuggling charges — though he'll continue to remain behind bars for at least another month. The ruling from US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw said federal prosecutors had not shown 'through clear and convincing evidence' that Abrego Garcia would present a danger to others or the community if he were allowed to remain out of criminal custody as his case unfolds. 'The government's general statements about the crimes brought against Abrego, and the evidence it has in support of those crimes, do not prove Abrego's dangerousness,' Crenshaw wrote in a 37-page ruling rejecting a request from the Trump administration that he should reverse a ruling by a magistrate judge in Nashville that also said prosecutors hadn't made a strong case for keeping Abrego Garcia behind bars for now. But the magistrate judge — Barbara Holmes — said in another decision that Abrego Garcia would remain behind bars for at least 30 more days, granting an unopposed request by his lawyers for him to stay in criminal custody. Abrego Garcia's lawyers had made the request earlier this week in an effort to ensure removal proceedings wouldn't quickly begin once he's released from custody. Just as Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, released his ruling, a third judge in Maryland who is overseeing a civil case brought by Abrego Garcia and his family over his wrongful deportation earlier this year to El Salvador released her own ruling that bars the administration from quickly deporting him again should he be released from criminal custody in coming days. That ruling from US District Judge Paula Xinis, also an Obama appointee, is meant to do two things: Restore Abrego Garcia to the immigration position he was in before his deportation in mid-March and ensure his due process rights aren't violated again should officials try to remove him from the US a second time. 'These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government's lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar's due process rights,' said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, in a statement. 'After the government unlawfully deported him once without warning, this legal protection is essential.' Xinis is prohibiting the Trump administration from taking Abrego Garcia into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody once he's released from criminal custody, and she ordered officials to put him back into the position of being under supervision by the ICE Baltimore Field Office, which is what his status quo was prior to mid-March. That supervision allowed him to work and live in Maryland, with occasional check-ins with an immigration officer. 'Once Abrego Garcia is restored under the ICE Supervision Order out of the Baltimore Field Office, Defendants may take whatever action is available to them under the law,' the judge wrote, adding that it's possible he could be ordered to appear before immigration officials in Baltimore, who may begin the process of deporting him. 'So long as such actions are taken within the bounds of the Constitution and applicable statutes, this Court will have nothing further to say,' Xinis wrote. The Trump administration quickly criticized the judge's decision. 'The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest an MS-13 gang member, indicted by a grand jury for human trafficking, and subject to immigration arrest under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE,' Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X, referring to the government's allegation that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. The ruling also puts guardrails on the government's ability to quickly deport Abrego Garcia to a nation other than his home country of El Salvador. Those measures, the judge said, are meant to ensure the government won't run roughshod over Abrego Garcia's due process rights, which include having the chance to raise a claim that he has a fear of facing torture in the third country the government may want to deport him to. Should officials be planning to deport him to a third country, they must give his lawyers at least 72 hours' notice prior to that intended removal so he has an opportunity to make such 'claims of credible fear or seek any other relief available to him under the law and the Constitution.' The Maryland father of three was wrongly deported to El Salvador in mid-March, setting off a monthslong legal fracas before Xinis, who ordered the government to secure his return to the US. He was brought back to the US last month to face federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia is currently in pre-trial detention in Tennessee but could soon be released from that court's authority and turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Last month, his attorneys in the case before Xinis, of the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, raised concerns that the Trump administration would quickly deport him once he's out of criminal custody and back in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The government has wavered in recent weeks on whether they would deport him before he stands trial in the human smuggling case.' 'All we're trying to do for today is ensure that there is no constitutional violation,' Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, said during a recent court hearing. The government is already barred from removing Abrego Garcia to El Salvador because of a 2019 order from an immigration judge.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- 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.
CBS News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Abrego Garcia's lawyers ask judge to delay potential release from criminal custody for 30 days amid deportation threat
Washington — Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia asked a federal judge overseeing his criminal case to put off his release from custody for 30 days if the judge rejects a Justice Department bid to keep him in confinement while awaiting a trial. Abrego Garcica's lawyers said in a filing that the 30-day pause in issuing a release order would give him time to evaluate his legal options in response to likely efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to deport him. "We have been advised by the government that if the court denies the government's motion for revocation, the defendant would be transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security ('DHS'), and DHS would begin removal proceedings," they wrote. The Justice Department does not object to the request, and Abrego Garcia's legal team said that the delay would not affect their ability to come up with a proposed schedule leading up to his criminal trial. A federal grand jury in Tennessee indicted Abrego Garcia in late May on two counts of human smuggling. He has pleaded not guilty to both counts. A trial in his case is set to begin in January. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, but his removal gained headlines after a federal immigration official acknowledged it was an administrative error. An immigration judge had granted Abrego Garcia a withholding of removal in 2019, which prevented DHS from deporting him to his home country of El Salvador because he was likely to face persecution by local gangs. Abrego Garcia, who has lived in Maryland after coming to the U.S. illegally in 2011, and his wife filed a civil lawsuit against the Trump administration in March challenging his removal, and a federal judge in Maryland ordered the government to facilitate his return to the U.S. After weeks of back-and-forth — and his case reaching the Supreme Court — Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in early June that Abrego Garcia had been released from Salvadoran custody and brought back to the U.S. to face criminal charges stemming from his alleged participation in a scheme to smuggle undocumented migrants into the country. A federal magistrate judge last month ordered Abrego Garcia's release from federal law enforcement custody while he awaits a trial, but that raised concerns that he would be swiftly detained by immigration agents and possibly deported. The Justice Department appealed that decision and asked a U.S. district judge to revoke the release order. The judge overseeing the criminal case, Waverly Crenshaw, held a hearing last week on the government's motion but has not yet ruled on whether to grant it. If Crenshaw denies the bid, it would give the green-light for Abrego Garcia to be released from criminal custody. But the prospect that Abrego Garcia would then swiftly be detained by the Department of Homeland Security for removal proceedings has created a new tangle for the courts to unravel. He has remained in the custody of U.S. Marshals as the legal proceedings have continued. In the ongoing civil case in Maryland, the federal judge is considering a separate request from Abrego Garcia's lawyers to return him to Maryland immediately after he is released from confinement in the criminal proceedings that are ongoing in Tennessee. They also asked the judge to bar the Trump administration from removing Abrego Garcia from the U.S. The judge in Maryland has not yet ruled on Abrego Garcia's requests.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge won't rule this week on releasing Kilmar Abrego Garcia from jail
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia tried to poke holes in the federal human smuggling case against him on Wednesday, while a federal judge won't rule this week on releasing Abrego Garcia from jail, a decision that could ultimately lead to his deportation. Sean Hecker, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, questioned Homeland Security special agent Peter Joseph over the possibility that government witnesses cooperated against Abrego Garcia. Joseph said he was unaware that a lead witness was calling other witnesses from jail. Asked whether there was reason to believe they might have coordinated their testimony, Joseph noted that three of the witnesses are related. 'That's always a possibility,' he said. Abrego Garcia's attorneys cited the new evidence in their efforts to raise more concerns about the reliability of witness testimony in the smuggling case. Federal prosecutors are relying on those witnesses in part to show that Abrego Garcia is a flight risk, a danger to the community and should stay in jail. U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. is considering whether or not to release Abrego Garcia from jail to await his trial. He said from the bench Wednesday that he won't rule on the matter this week. His decision could allow U.S. immigration officials to try to deport the Salvadoran national for a second time. Lawyers for the Justice Department have said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will detain Abrego Garcia if he's freed. ICE officials have said they will initiate deportation proceedings against him and will possibly try to send the construction worker who was living in Maryland to a third country such as Mexico or South Sudan. Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint over the Republican 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 2019 order that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there. The Trump administration claimed 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 administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called 'preposterous.' Crenshaw is reviewing last month's ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville that Abrego Garcia is eligible for release. Holmes determined that Abrego Garcia was not a flight risk or a danger to the community and set various conditions for his release, including wearing an ankle bracelet and living with his brother in Maryland. Crenshaw scheduled Wednesday's hearing following a motion by federal prosecutors to revoke Holmes' release order. The prosecutors argue Abrego Garcia is a flight risk and a danger to the community. Holmes has kept Abrego Garcia in jail at the request of his lawyers over concerns the Trump administration will try to deport him upon release. The attorneys asked Holmes to keep him in jail until Wednesday's hearing before Crenshaw to review her release order. The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police in Tennessee suspected human smuggling, but he was allowed to drive on. Abrego Garcia lived and worked in Maryland for more than a decade, doing construction and raising a family. Abrego Garcia's American wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is suing the Trump administration in federal court in Maryland over his wrongful deportation in March, while trying to prevent any attempts to expel him again. Abrego Garcia's attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland to order the government to send him to Maryland if he's released in Tennessee, a request that aims to prevent his expulsion before trial. In court on Friday, Abrego Garcia's attorneys also asked for at least a 72-hour hold that would prevent his immediate deportation. Attorney Andrew Rossman called it the 'critical bottom-line protection' needed to prevent a potentially egregious violation of due process rights. Xinis didn't rule from the bench Friday but said she'd issue an order before Crenshaw's hearing on Wednesday. If Abrego Garcia is released into ICE custody, his lawyers have vowed to fight expulsion efforts within the U.S. immigration court system, which is part of the Justice Department. ___ This story has been corrected to show the district judge's surname is Crenshaw, not Waverly. —— Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
