(Nashville) Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in prison for at least a few additional days. Lawyers in charge of the Federal Trafficking Affairs against him are arguing to find out if prosecutors have the opportunity to prevent his expulsion if he is released while waiting for his trial.
The Salvadoral national, whose erroneous expulsion was at the heart of the debate on the immigration policy of President Donald Trump, has been imprisoned since his return to the United States on June 7, under the blow of two counts of trafficking in human beings.
Although a federal judge ruled that he had the right to be released and even set out specific conditions for his release, his lawyers fear that he will be held and expelled when he came out by immigration agents and Custom Enforcement (ICE).
On Sunday, Federal Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Mr. Abrego Garcia did not have to stay in prison before his trial. Wednesday afternoon, she set conditions for her release.
But his release was suspended, fearing that the ICE services would immediately place him in detention and try to expel him before his trial.
Judge Holmes expressed doubts about her own power to demand more than prosecutors already do to obtain cooperation from the Department of Internal Security and ICE.
“I have no doubt about my ability to lead the local prosecutor’s office,” said the judge. I don’t think I have authority over the ICE. »»
Mme Holmes did not specify when she would deposit the liberation order of Mr. Abrego Garcia, but that will not be done before Friday afternoon.
This case revealed divergent interests between two federal agencies in the Trump administration.
The acting federal prosecutor Rob McGuire argued in court and in documents he wanted in particular that Mr. Abrego Garcia remains in prison to ensure that he remains in the United States and is not expelled by the ICE.
Mr. McGuire said he would do his best to obtain the cooperation of the Department of Internal Security, but said that “this is a separate agency, with a distinct management and directives”.
“I will coordinate the actions, but I cannot dictate their conduct to them. »»
The accused’s lawyer Sean Hecker, however, stressed the judge on Wednesday that the Department of Justice and the Department of Internal Security, which includes the ICE, are both of the executive power and seem to cooperate on other points. For example, the ICE agreed not to expel the cooperative witnesses who agreed to testify against Mr. Abrego Garcia.
An audience relating to evidence is scheduled for July 16.
Mr. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13, smuggling charges. According to his lawyers, the holding of this trial is a pretext to justify his expulsion by mistake in March to a infamous prison in Salvador.
These accusations stem from a speed control for speeding in Tennessee in 2022, during which Mr. Abrego Garcia led a vehicle with nine passengers. During his detention hearing, the special agent of internal security, Peter Joseph, admitted that he had started his investigation into the accused in April of this year.
Judge Holmes said in his decision rendered on Sunday that federal prosecutors had not demonstrated that Mr. Abrego Garcia presented a risk of flight or a danger to the community. He has lived for over ten years in Maryland, where he and his American wife raise three children.
However, she described her own “theoretical” decision, stressing that the ICE planned to place him in detention. We do not know what will happen next. Although Mr. Abrego Garcia cannot be expelled to Salvador – where an immigration judge considered that he was confronted with a credible threat from the gangs – it is nevertheless possible to expel him to a third country as long as this country accepts not to expel it to Salvador.
His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said at a press conference before the hearing scheduled for Wednesday that it had been 106 days that he had been “kidnapped by the Trump administration and separated from (his) family”. She stressed that he had missed family birthdays, diploma discounts and Fathers’ Day. “Today, our wedding anniversary is missing.”
“Kilmar should never have been removed from us,” she said. This fight was the most difficult thing in my life. »»
