Federal judge again delays Abrego Garcias release from Tennessee jail over deportation concerns

NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he’s released to await his trial on human smuggling charges, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday.Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay his release because of what they described as “contradictory statements” by President Donald Trump’s administration over what would happen to the Salvadoran national.

The lawyers wrote in a brief to the court Friday that “we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue” by the Justice Department, adding that the “irony of this request is not lost on anyone.”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.”Hours earlier, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a federal judge in Maryland that the US 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.”Abrego Garcia, a construction worker who had been living in Maryland, became a flashpoint over Trump’s hardline 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.”Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have 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 prol...