Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose wrongful deportation case made him a symbol of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, cannot be deported again until at least October, a federal judge ordered Aug. 27.
District Judge Paula Xinis set an evidentiary hearing Oct. 6 and prohibited Abrego Garcia’s removal from the U.S. until Xinis makes her ruling. The judge said she would do so within 30 days of the hearing.
Abrego Garcia, 30, fled his native El Salvador at age 16 to live with his brother in Maryland. His court battles began in March, when he was detained after a traffic stop near his home in Beltsville, Maryland. A short time later, he was wrongfully exiled to a Salvadoran mega-prison.
He was returned to the United States in June but remained in custody until last week, when he was released from criminal custody in Tennessee and returned to his home in the Washington suburb of Beltsville, Maryland. Three days later he was back in custody, setting off another round of legal actions.
For now he is being held in ICE detention in Virginia and has renewed his bid for asylum in the United States. A similar bid was rejected in 2019 because he failed to apply within 12 months of arriving in the U.S.
Fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation headed back to federal judge
The Trump administration has described Abrego Garcia as a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator. He has denied all those claims.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say U.S. officials have offered to deport him to Costa Rica if he pleads guilty to transporting migrants living illegally in the United States. When he declined to enter a guilty plea, the U.S. government warned he could be deported to Uganda.
One of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said earlier this week that plea discussions have taken place to avoid deportation to Uganda, which they say would be more dangerous than Costa Rica.
“They’re holding Costa Rica as a carrot and using Uganda as a stick,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “They’re weaponizing the immigration system in a way that’s completely unconstitutional.”
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge prohibits second deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia for now
