Judge will consider releasing Kilmar Abrego Garcia from jail, possibly leading to his deportation
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 the Salvadoran national and will possibly try to send him 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.'
U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. scheduled a hearing in Nashville to consider the matter of releasing Abrego Garcia from jail to await his trial.
Waverly will review last month's order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville to free Abrego Garcia. 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.
Waverly 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 Waverly 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 Waverly'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.
___
Finley reported from Norfolk, Va.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
American woman arrested at Moscow airport with a gun and check for $138,000, Russian authorities claim
An American-Russian woman, who lives in the United States, was arrested at a Moscow airport, accused of attempting to bring a gun into the country, authorities have said. The woman, who has not been named, was also carrying a check for $138,000 in her luggage. The suspect was stopped in a random check as she attempted to leave Vnukovo airport in the green lane designated for passengers who have nothing to declare, Russia's Federal Customs Service said in a statement. 'The suitcase was found to contain an American Colt Commander, .45 caliber with three empty magazines,' the statement continued. Officials posted pictures of the gun and the magazines on social media. The woman, who was traveling from Turkey, said that she did not think she had to declare the gun or the check, Russian authorities said. She is now facing criminal charges. U.S. citizens in Russian custody have long been a point of contention between the two countries. In May, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a possible prisoner exchange involving nine people from each side, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. A source close to the Kremlin said the U.S. side has previously provided Moscow with a list of nine Americans jailed in Russia that Washington wants to have returned. Tensions between the White House and the Kremlin are high, with Trump turning on Putin with a series of statements regarding the war in Ukraine and his renewed pledge of further military aid to Kyiv. This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his 'willingness to support Ukraine.' In Kyiv, resident Nina Tokar, 70, said Tuesday that with more U.S. weapons going to Ukraine, 'maybe this will all end faster.' However, following Trump's threat late last week to impose major sanctions on Russia for failing to reach a deal to end the fighting, the American president said Monday that Moscow would get 50 days to come to a settlement or face 'very severe' economic sanctions. While some believe strict tariffs on Moscow could be a game changer, the decision to postpone them until September struck some European observers as being too long. Ukrainian officials made no direct comment about the 50-day window, but for Russia, the delay of new sanctions came as a reprieve.
Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Brazil police search former President Bolsonaro's home, hq
BRASILIA, July 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police searched former President Jair Bolsonaro's house and political headquarters on Friday, adding to legal pressure that U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to end by threatening a steep tariff on Brazilian goods. Local media reported that Bolsonaro had been ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, stop using social media and cease communications with his son Eduardo, a Brazilian lawmaker who has been lobbying in Washington to help his father. Bolsonaro's press office reported the searches but gave no further details. Police in a statement said they had issued search warrants ordered by the country's Supreme Court, but did not name Bolsonaro, who governed Latin America's largest country from 2019 to 2022. Trump has pressed Brazil to stop a legal case against Bolsonaro, saying that his former ally was the victim of a "witch hunt". Bolsonaro, who was friendly with Trump when they were both in office, is on trial before Brazil's Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023. Trump, who last week said he would impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, posted on Truth Social on Thursday a letter he sent to Bolsonaro. "I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you," he wrote.
The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ohio mosque worshippers reel after imam is detained by Ice: ‘No one is ever truly safe'
A week after the detention of their imam, Egyptian-born Ayman Soliman, worshippers at the Clifton mosque in Cincinnati, Ohio, are still in shock. Soliman was detained on 9 July while attending a regular check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, weeks after being told that his asylum status had been terminated, a provision that he had held for more than seven years. 'People in the community are saying that if [Ice] can come for our leaders, our scholars and our elders, then we are nothing,' says Tala Ali, the chair of the Clifton mosque. 'They're scared, they're angry. They're also broken-hearted; they're praying for him.' Lawyers for Soliman say that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) alleges he provided material support to a so-called 'Tier III' terrorist organization, namely the Muslim Brotherhood, through his involvement with Al-Gameya al-Shareya, a prominent charity organization in Egypt. 'Tier III' refers to groups that are not officially designated terrorist organizations by the US Department of State, but which an asylum officer may determine to be as such on a case-by-case basis. Soliman, a former chaplain at Cincinnati children's hospital, came to the US in 2014 and was granted asylum status in 2018. In Egypt, Soliman worked as a freelance journalist for a Spanish outlet during the popular uprising against and overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, in 2011 and in the tumultuous years that preceded Egypt's return to authoritarian rule two years later. He was one of nearly 15,000 Egyptians granted affirmative asylum in the US – the third most from any country in the nine years that followed the Egyptian military's 2013 coup and subsequent crackdown. Having previously lived in Oregon and Chicago, Soliman has said he believes his life would be at risk were he forced to return to Egypt. He received notice that the process to terminate his asylum status was under way last December. Soliman is set to appear via video link before an immigration judge to hear his case on 22 July, the day before he is due to have an immigration bond hearing, which would determine whether he can be released while his case is pending. As with thousands of others caught up in the Trump administration's anti-immigration drive, Soliman's case has been marked by confusion and an apparent arbitrary series of processes. The government's reasoning is 'illogical, and its conclusion is wrong', says Julia Healy, an attorney at the Law Office of Nazly Mamedova, a firm representing Soliman. 'USCIS terminated Ayman's asylum status by conducting wild leaps of association: jumping from Ayman's membership in a very well-known charity organization in Egypt, to alleging that because of his membership in this organization, he provided material support to the Muslim Brotherhood, which USCIS is calling a 'Tier III Terrorist Organization'.' Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor Al-Gameya al-Shareya are designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the US government. On 9 July, the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, further muddied the waters writing on X that Soliman was flagged for being on an FBI 'terror watchlist'. The admission has followed a years-long attempt by Soliman and his legal representatives to find out if and why he was on such a list. A lawsuit filed by Soliman's lawyers against several Biden-era officials last December claims that he '(R)easonably believes his name appears in the TSDS (Terrorist Screening Database) because of its impact on his immigration proceedings' and that his fingerprints do not match those recorded in that database. 'This USCIS termination letter is the only explanation we have of these alleged connections, and they are so incredibly weak that they appear to be a pretext for targeting Ayman,' says Healy. That targeting could be, Soliman's lawyers and supporters believe, retaliation for suing the government after he sought information about a security flag that appeared during a background check when he applied for a job in Oregon several years ago. The USCIS website says the grant of asylum can be terminated in cases where the grantee no longer meets the definition of a refugee, is convicted of a 'particularly serious crime', is a security threat, or for a number of other reasons. The termination of asylum status is highly uncommon. 'Asylum termination is incredibly rare, but if you challenge the US government, you might put a target on your back,' says Healy. 'This also demonstrates how no one is ever truly safe under these current policies. Any asylum officer may re-interpret historical events and issue this type of ruling.' Emails sent by the Guardian to Ice's media department asking why Soliman's asylum status was revoked and whether the reason for doing so is related to his alleged being on an FBI 'terror watchlist' did not receive a response. 'He is being targeted or profiled, or maybe it's a wrong assessment from the homeland security officer,' says Ahmed Elkady, an Egyptian-born doctor and one of three of Soliman's contacts permitted to visit him in jail. 'We know the system in Egypt. [If he is sent back] you won't know where he will go to or how long he will stay because there is no court hearing, there is nothing.' Soliman has received public support from the Greater Cincinnati Board of Rabbis, and hundreds of people in the Ohio city have been turning out at protests against his detention in recent days. Soliman is being held 18 miles north at the notorious Butler county jail, a facility whose sheriff has openly advocated for cash in return for holding individuals detained by Ice, and which bears a sign on its grounds that says:'illegal aliens here'. On 16 July, Soliman was granted a temporary restraining order that would prevent his potential transfer out of Ohio until at least his bond hearing on 23 July. Ali, who speaks with Soliman every day, says he recently led one of the first Friday prayers for Muslims being held at the jail. 'He's also helped people get kosher food, since there is no access to halal meals,' she says. Among the 1,000-strong worshipers at the Clifton mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Cincinnati that opened in the late 1960s chiefly to serve students from the nearby university, the fear – and not just for their imam – is real. Ali says she has received reports from Muslim residents that Ice agents are knocking on their doors. 'There are some members of our community who say agents identifying themselves as Ice are stopping at people's houses and interrogating them and asking them about Ayman,' she says. 'There is nothing here that people know that they don't already know.'
