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Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal judge denies detention for alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia
A federal judge in Tennessee has denied the government's request to hold Kilmar Abrego Garcia in continued detention while his criminal case proceeds. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian migrant who was erroneously deported to El Salvador before being returned to the U.S. to face federal prosecution on charges of trafficking undocumented migrants and conspiring with others to do so. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the government's request to hold Abrego Garcia, though he will remain in custody until at least a hearing that has been scheduled to determine conditions of release, which the government can, and will likely, appeal. Abrego Garcia appeared at his arraignment and hearing on the government's detention on June 13. According to the judge's decision on Sunday, "the sole circumstance about which the government and Abrego [Garcia] may agree in this case is the likelihood that Abrego [Garcia] will remain in custody regardless of the outcome of the issues raised in the government's motion for detention." Returned Illegal Abrego Garcia Pleads Not Guilty; Judge Yet To Rule On Pretrial Custody Holmes said in her decision that the court found no detention hearing is authorized under the Bail Reform Act because the government failed to prove the case involved a minor and that Abrego Garcia is considered a flight risk. Read On The Fox News App Additionally, the court found that after considering several factors, the government failed to prove that Abrego Garcia poses an irremediable danger to the community. Returned Salvadoran Migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia Arraigned On Federal Human Trafficking Charges In Tennessee Still, even if Abrego Garcia is to be released, ICE will arrest and detain him immediately via civil immigration process, separately from the criminal case. The criminal case against Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 member, comes after a high-profile, protracted legal fight over his deportation and the Trump administration's efforts to delay his return to the U.S., even after the Supreme Court ordered the administration to "facilitate" his release earlier this year. The indictment alleges that Abrego Garica was part of a smuggling ring that helped bring immigrants to the U.S. illegally and smuggle them across the country. According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators made at least 100 trips between Texas and Maryland between 2016 and 2025, when he was deported. Federal Judge Hammers Doj On Whereabouts Of Alleged Ms-13 Gang Member Following Scotus Order Special Agent Peter T. Joseph told prosecutors on June 13 that he was first assigned to Abrego Garcia's case in April 2025, when he was still detained in El Salvador. Since then, Joseph said, he has reviewed footage from Abrego Garcia's 2022 traffic stop, which has emerged as the basis of the human smuggling charges. At the time, Joseph told prosecutors, Abrego Garcia had been driving a vehicle with nine passengers and was pulled over while driving from St. Louis to Maryland with an expired license. Six of the nine passengers in the vehicle have since been identified as being in the U.S. illegally, Joseph said, adding that one passenger in the van told officers that he was born in 2007, which would have made him just 15 at the time. Abrego Garcia's legal team has vehemently disputed his alleged status as an MS-13 member. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges. His case has become a national flashpoint in the broader fight over Trump's hard-line immigration policies in his second White House term. Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch contributed to this article source: Federal judge denies detention for alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oregon lawmaker latest Democrat to visit El Salvador for deported illegal migrant Abrego Garcia
A Democratic congresswoman from Oregon is the latest lawmaker to announce she will travel to El Salvador to advocate for the release of deported illegal migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Rep. Maxine Dexter, said late Friday she would jet to the Central American country following Sen. Chris Van Hollen's, D-Md., highly publicized visit there this week when he met with Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the country's "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) megaprison with other suspected illegal migrant gang members last month. "A legal U.S. resident has had his due process rights ripped away and is now being held indefinitely in a foreign prison," Dexter said in a statement. "This is not just one family's nightmare; it is a constitutional crisis that should outrage every single one of us. I will travel to El Salvador to confront this crisis head on. Our constitutional rights are on the line." Federal Judge Hammers Doj On Whereabouts Of Alleged Ms-13 Gang Member Following Scotus Order Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and was issued with a deportation order in 2019. Two previous judges found he was likely affiliated with MS-13. Trump administration officials acknowledged in court that his deportation had been an administrative error, although now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he's a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. Read On The Fox News App One immigration judge in 2019 found that Garcia had not sufficiently refuted evidence of MS-13 affiliation and was thus removable to anywhere other than El Salvador because of a threat from a rival gang. This is called a withholding order. The Supreme Court acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a 2019 withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador and that the removal to El Salvador was "therefore illegal." The Court stressed that the government must facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador and treat his case as if he were never deported. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on Monday said that when Trump declared the violent gang a terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia was no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States. White House Photo Bluntly Shows Where Parties Stand On Immigration Amid Abrego Garcia Deportation The case has drawn a wedge between Democrats and Republicans. The Trump administration argues Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member who is suspected of human trafficking and has a violent history of abusing his wife. On Friday, Trump released an image of Abrego Garcia's hand showing purported MS-13 gang tattoos. A 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report identified Garcia as a member of MS-13 and a suspected human trafficker. A 2021 domestic violence filing, written by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez, claimed, "I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me." Democrats like Dexter say he is a hard-working Maryland resident who has had his due process rights stripped away after being sent to the notorious prison. Critics, including Republicans and Trump allies, have questioned why Van Hollen would travel abroad to advocate for someone with alleged gang ties and a record of domestic abuse while remaining silent on victims like Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2023. The White House released a split-screen image to underscore what it says is the stark contrast between where Republicans and Democrats stand on illegal immigration. One image featured distraught Angel Mom Patty Morin, mother of Rael Morin, being comforted by President Trump in the Oval Office. The other image showed Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., sitting and talking with Abrego Garcia, 29, in El Salvador. "We are not the same," the White House captioned the image while tagging Van Hollen. Fox News' Greg Wehner, Kerri Urbahn and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this article source: Oregon lawmaker latest Democrat to visit El Salvador for deported illegal migrant Abrego Garcia
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ indicates Trump admin not obligated to return man deported to El Salvador, pushing back on judiciary
While a court ordered the U.S. government to pursue "steps to facilitate the return" of a Salvadoran man removed from the U.S. last month, the Justice Department asserted that federal courts do not have the authority to dictate to the executive branch how to handle foreign relations and that the order only requires removal of "domestic obstacles" that would hinder the man's ability to return to the U.S. The legal wranglings concern Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland, but was removed from the U.S. last month. "Defendants understand 'facilitate' to mean what that term has long meant in the immigration context, namely actions allowing an alien to enter the United States. Taking 'all available steps to facilitate' the return of Abrego Garcia is thus best read as taking all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien's ability to return here," a DOJ court filing declared. "On the flipside, reading 'facilitate' as requiring something more than domestic measures would not only flout the Supreme Court's order, but also violate the separation of powers. The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner." Federal Judge Hammers Doj On Whereabouts Of Alleged Ms-13 Gang Member Following Scotus Order Abrego Garcia has been accused of being an MS-13 gang member, but his legal challenge has denied that allegation. Read On The Fox News App "On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error," according to a DOJ court filing. Evan Katz, who identified himself as "Assistant Director for the Removal Division, within the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)," addressed the issue in a court filing. "Although Abrego-Garcia has an order of removal issued by an immigration judge, I understand that he should not have been removed to El Salvador because the immigration judge had also granted Abrego-Garcia withholding of removal to El Salvador. However, I also understand that Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13 which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization," Katz declared. Federal Judge Calls Deportation Of Salvadoran Man In Maryland 'Wholly Lawless' After the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ordered the U.S. "to facilitate and effectuate" Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S., the Supreme Court called for the lower court to clarify the instruction. "The order properly requires the Government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term 'effectuate' in the District Court's order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court's authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs," the Supreme Court noted. The lower court then called for defendants to "take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible." Trump Invites El Salvador's Bukele To White House For 'Working Visit' Abrego Garcia, whose wife is a U.S. citizen, is being held in El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center. "It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador," Michael Kozak, senior bureau official in the bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, noted in a filing. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is visiting President Donald Trump at the White House on article source: DOJ indicates Trump admin not obligated to return man deported to El Salvador, pushing back on judiciary
