NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Federal judges in two states on Friday will consider challenges to the government’s treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador galvanized opposition to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.
In Maryland, Abrego Garcia has challenged efforts to re-deport him to a third country after the government admitted that a previous order prevents his deportation to his home country of El Salvador. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said recently that it plans to deport him to the southern African country of Eswatini.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered government officials to testify Friday about what steps they have taken to remove Abrego Garcia to Eswatini or any other country. His attorneys have charged that the Republican administration is trying to illegally use the immigration system to punish him after the embarrassment of his mistaken deportation.
Meanwhile, attorneys in criminal court in Tennessee have made similar claims about human smuggling charges brought against Abrego Garcia in June on the day he was returned to the U.S. from El Salvador. The Tennessee judge has concluded that Abrego Garcia’s prosecution may be an illegal retaliation after he successfully sued the Trump administration over his deportation.
The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia was not charged at the time, and agents did not begin investigating the stop until earlier this year after his wife sued over his deportation. The Friday hearing will determine what types of documents Abrego Garcia’s attorneys can pursue in discovery to try to prove their retaliation case.
Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Abrego Garcia, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes.
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