The Maryland father who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador mega prison has asked a judge to send him home to his wife and three kids—and shield him from the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him ahead of his criminal trial.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, is in federal custody in Tennessee, where he faces human smuggling charges stemming from a years-old traffic stop where he was allegedly busted transporting undocumented migrants.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which were not filed until April, well after he became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown.
His request to be returned to Maryland—with guarantees that ICE won’t immediately arrest him—comes a day after a federal judge said he could be released under his own recognizance ahead of trial. However, his lawyers asked that he remain in federal custody, fearing that, were he to be released Wednesday, ICE would pick him up immediately. Agents were even spotted outside the courthouse where he was appearing.
A day later, on Thursday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed an emergency motion asking that he be allowed to return home and be shielded from ICE until his trial is done.
“The Government has stated that once Abrego Garcia is released from criminal custody, it will take him into immigration custody and again try to remove him to El Salvador, where it illegally removed him over three months ago,” the emergency motion notes. “If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland.”
Two months ago, the Supreme Court ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States and “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” Now, Abrego Garcia fears he will be removed from the U.S. before he can defend himself in court.
Abrego Garcia’s March deportation prompted a legal showdown. After flouting court orders, the Trump administration caved in June and brought him back so he could be indicted for allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants.
“He was a smuggler of humans, and women, and children,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said of Abrego Garcia, who otherwise has no other significant run-ins with law enforcement in America, where he has lived since he was 16.
In a statement to ABC News, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said that they are fighting for the rights of their client and all fearful immigrants living in Trump’s America.
“We’re not just fighting for Kilmar, we’re fighting to ensure due process rights are protected for everyone. Because tomorrow, this could be any one of us, if we let power go unchecked, if we ignore our Constitution.”
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