Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia has been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania, according to a document filed by his lawyers in federal court.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador and the ensuing tug of war between his lawyers and the federal government have become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, drawing condemnation and outrage from immigration advocates as federal officials continue to seek his expulsion from the United States.
In March, the Trump administration said he had been sent to El Salvador because of an administrative error. But federal officials reversed course in April, claiming that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a criminal and gang member, and in June returned him to the United States to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee.
He was briefly released from custody in late August, but was promptly detained again and sent to a facility in Virginia. His lawyers said they had trouble visiting him there in part because of its distance from New York City and Nashville, where his legal teams are based.
His transfer to the Pennsylvania facility, the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, which his lawyers said they learned of on Friday, could make the problem worse, they argued. The move has made it “far more difficult” for the Nashville-based members of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s legal team to reach him, and travel to the processing center is “not appreciably easier” for the New York team, according to the court filing.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers also raised questions about “deeply concerning” conditions inside the Moshannon facility, citing “recent reports of assaults, inadequate medical care and insufficient food.” In August, a detainee, Chaofeng Ge, died by suicide there.
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