The government and Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s team have asked a judge for a 30-day pause if he’s ordered to be released from custody while pending trial.
Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was erroneously deported in March to El Salvador, is being held in Nashville, Tennessee, on human smuggling charges.
He’s waiting for U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, who is overseeing the case, to rule on the government’s motion to revoke Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes’ order that Abrego Garcia be released pending trial. The ruling is expected to be announced sometime this week.
On Sunday, the government and Abrego Garcia’s lawyers asked that in the event the court denies the government’s motion for revocation, the court grant a 30-day stay of any release order being issued to give Abrego Garcia time “to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary.”
The stay request stated that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys were advised that if the court denied the government’s motion for revocation, he’d be transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, and removal proceedings would commence.
“The government does not object to this request, and such a short delay will not affect the parties’ ability to conference regarding a proposed scheduling order or to prepare for trial,” the filing by Abrego Garcia’s counsel said.
If Crenshaw grants this request from the two parties, it will effectively render moot what Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis said she was going to do: ask for a 48-72 hour pause of Abrego Garcia’s deportation, if he is indeed released.
His deportation sparked heated debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass deportations, at times without due process.
The 29-year-old was deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in March, in what the government called an “administrative error.” His deportation was in direct violation of a judge’s order in 2019 that was issued to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador, where he was born and claimed to have been in danger of gang violence.
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States last month after months of legal back-and-forth between his defense and the federal government.
Upon his return, he was immediately charged with two federal felonies in U.S. District Court in Nashville: conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Matt Lavietes contributed.
