Justice Department says it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on smuggling charges
Source: AP
Updated 5:39 PM EDT, June 26, 2025
The Justice Department said Thursday that it intends to try Kilmar Abrego Garcia on federal smuggling charges in Tennessee before it moves to deport him to a country that is not his native El Salvador.
This defendant has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again, DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press.
Gilmartin made the statement hours after a federal prosecutor told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country that isnt El Salvador. But Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans.
Guynn acknowledged the governments plans during a hastily planned conference call with Abrego Garcias attorneys and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. Abrego Garcias lawyers had filed an emergency request for Xinis to order the government to take Abrego Garcia to Maryland when he is released in Tennessee, an arrangement that would prevent his deportation before he stands trial.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-maryland-tennessee-charges-deportation-c96844906793b35a80f9bbb4afa07e94
Article updated.
Previous article/headline -
Updated 2:45 PM EDT, June 26, 2025
Federal prosecutors told a judge in Maryland on Thursday that the government plans to initiate removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia and to deport him to a country that is not his native El Salvador upon his release from a Tennessee jail. But the prosecutors also said that they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia earlier asked the judge in Maryland to order his return to that state when he is released from jail, an arrangement that would prevent likely attempts by immigration officials to quickly deport Abrego Garcia.
The Maryland construction worker became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump's immigration policies after he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. He's been in jail in Tennessee since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7 to face federal charges of human smuggling.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. But she decided Wednesday to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again.
Original article -
Federal prosecutors told a judge on Thursday that the government plans to initiate removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia and to deport him to a country that is not El Salvador upon his release from a Tennessee jail. But the prosecutors also said that they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia earlier asked a federal judge in Maryland to order his return to that state when he is released from jail in Tennessee, an arrangement that would prevent likely attempts by immigration officials to quickly deport Abrego Garcia.
The Maryland construction worker became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump's immigration policies after he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. He's been in jail in Tennessee since he was returned to the U.S. on June 7 to face federal charges of human smuggling.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. But she decided Wednesday to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again.

JustAnotherGen
(35,516 posts)A man in jail - because she's afraid he will be snatched by ICE again.
Can we let that sink in?
Lovie777
(19,098 posts)Buddyzbuddy
(1,114 posts)Our system is broken and in dire trouble. It doesn't help when the SC bends over backward to please the Felon.
If this isn't a Dictatorship, I don't know what is.
D. Spaulding
(286 posts)to have one minute of freedom in this country, and we can probably guess why.
4catsmom
(658 posts)is the GOP strategy
LetMyPeopleVote
(165,424 posts)The trump administration/DOJ have been embarrassed by this case. The trump DOJ was forced to bring Garcia back by the courts and so to compensate they made up a case against him. The trial judge rejected that case as being based on double hearsay. It seems that to get even weak witnesses, the trump DOJ are making bad deals to let real criminals go free or not be deported.
Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes is a three-time felon who has been released early from federal prison to a halfway house in exchange for his cooperation in the case.
EXCLUSIVE
— Maria Sacchetti - reporter - The Washington Post (@mariasacchetti.bsky.social) 2025-06-29T00:21:11.017Z
Star witness against Kilmar Abrego GarcÃa was due to be deported after firing shots in a Houston suburb & reentering the U.S. illegally.
Now heâs being freed.
www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/28/star-witness-against-kilmar-abrego-garca-was-due-be-deported-now-hes-being-freed
Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to deadly conduct in the Texas incident, and is now the governments star witness in its case against Abrego.
The government illegally deported Abrego to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador in March, and stonewalled for weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the United States. Officials flew the Maryland resident back into the country this month, but only after a grand jury had indicted him on charges of migrant smuggling, in part because of Hernandezs testimony......
Hernandez is among a handful of cooperating witnesses who could help the Trump administration achieve its goal of never letting Abrego walk free in the United States again. In exchange, he has already been released early from federal prison to a halfway house and has been given permission to stay in the U.S. for at least a year.
Otherwise he would be deported, Peter Joseph, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, testified at Abregos criminal hearing June 13. The government is also likely to give him a work permit, the agent told the court.....
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes ruled on June 22 that Abrego was eligible for release from criminal custody, saying the government had failed to prove that he posed a flight risk or a danger to the community. She wrote that she put little weight on the claims of Hernandez and other cooperators based on their records and interest in avoiding deportation.
travelingthrulife
(2,776 posts)cadoman
(1,395 posts)Seems like the least we could do after the awful crimes our country has committed against him.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-aid-for-kilmar-abregogarcias-government-abduction
Donations to CASA and NDLON also help.