Judge scolds Justice Department for 'refusal' to detail deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 3:14 PM EDT, July 11, 2025
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland scolded the Trump administration on Friday for its “utter refusal” to detail its deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including where the government plans to send him and whether he’ll get a chance to fight his expulsion before he’s whisked away.
The Salvadoran national could be released from a Tennessee jail as soon as next Wednesday to await trial on human smuggling charges. U.S. immigration officials have said they would immediately detain him and begin deportation proceedings.
“I’m deeply concerned that if there’s not some restraint on you, Mr. Abrego will be on another plane to another country,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told Justice Department lawyers on Friday.
Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint over Republican President Donald 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 order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faces threats of gang violence there.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-deportation-jail-release-trump-7e465d3649f2f5f91dd3b67b2fa15eb9
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