NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in jail for at least a few more days while attorneys in the federal smuggling case against him spar over whether prosecutors have the ability to prevent Abrego Garcia’s deportation if he is released to await trial.
The Salvadoran national whose mistaken deportation became a flashpoint in the fight over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies has been in jail since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7, facing two counts of human smuggling.
Although a federal Judge has ruled that he has a right to be released and even set specific conditions for his release, his attorneys expressed concern that it would lead to immediate detention by ICE and deportation.
On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia does not have to remain in jail ahead of that trial. On Wednesday afternoon, she set conditions for his release in preparation to allow him to go. But Abrego Garcia’s impending release has been halted over concerns that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would take him into custody immediately and possibly try to deport him before he can stand trial.
Holmes expressed doubts about her own power to require anything more than that prosecutors use their best efforts to secure the cooperation of Homeland Security and ICE.
“I have no reservations about my ability to direct the local U.S. Attorney’s office,” the judge said. “I don’t think I have any authority over ICE.”
Holmes did not say when she would file the release order for Abrego Garcia, but it will not happen before Friday afternoon.
@Bonus If I could figure out how to follow communities, might be onto something here? (no idea if this is worthwhile or not)
I don’t use Mastodon, but I wonder if you can follow the link to a Lemmy community from your Mastodon client, or search it from within Mastodon. Given that you found this post somehow, it makes sense to test using this community, so here’s a link to try: https://lemmy.world/c/news