September 27, 2025 / 4:03 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was transferred to a Pennsylvania detention center on Friday, his attorneys said in a status update, explaining to a federal judge handling his human smuggling case in Tennessee why a motion wasn’t promptly filed.
Abrego Garcia, the 30-year-old native of El Salvador who was mistakenly deported to his home country in March, was previously held at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified Abrego Garcia’s legal counsel that he was transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday morning, the court document filed on the same day said.
An ICE official told Abrego Garcia’s lawyers that the transfer will “allow Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s legal team greater access to him,” the filing stated. In response, his attorneys said, “It is not yet clear whether that is true.”
CBS News has reached out to the Department of Justice for comments.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued that travel to Moshannon is far more difficult for members of the defense team based in Nashville, and not easier for those in New York.
“Conditions at Moshannon are also deeply concerning,” his attorneys said, citing a detainee who died by hanging in August, reports of assaults, inadequate medical care and insufficient food.
Abrego Garcia filed a status report on Sept. 19, detailing how his detention at the Farmville Detention Center “placed substantial burdens on the defense’s ability to meet” with him, his counsel told the judge. Then on Sept. 22, the court instructed Abrego Garcia’s attorney to file an appropriate motion and set an expedited briefing schedule.
“We are submitting this notice to explain to the Court why a motion regarding difficulties meeting with Mr. Abrego at Farmville is not being promptly filed,” his attorneys said Friday in the update to Judge Waverly Crenshaw, Jr. “We will update the Court once there is more visibility into Mr. Abrego’s access to counsel and ability to prepare for trial at Moshannon.”
Before being returned to the U.S. in June to face the federal human smuggling charges, the Maryland father was held in a notorious Salvadoran prison for months following his deportation.
Abrego Garcia faces one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. The indictment claims that Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators “knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands” of migrants who were not legally authorized to live or work in the U.S., and alleges that many of those people were members of the gang MS-13 and associates — a claim Abrego Garcia’s family has denied.
Prosecutors said Abrego Garcia was pulled over in November 2022 by Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia had at least eight people in the car with him when he was stopped. He said that they had been performing construction work at a site in St. Louis, Missouri.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.
Jared Ochacher covers national breaking news at CBS News. He is based in New York City.
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