💥 Read this insightful post from PBS NewsHour – Politics 📖
📂 Category: Department of Homeland Security,Department of Justice,immigration and customs enforcement,Kilmar Abrego Garcia
✅ Here’s what you’ll learn:
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland ordered Kelmar Abrego Garcia to be released from immigration detention Thursday while his legal challenge against his deportation moves forward.
U.S. District Judge Paula Shenis ruled that ICE must release Abrego Garcia from custody immediately.
Read more: After the wrongful deportation, Kelmar Abrego Garcia now faces smuggling charges
“Since Abrego García’s return from unlawful detention in El Salvador, he has been rearrested again without legal authority,” the judge wrote. “For this reason, the court will grant Abrego Garcia’s petition for immediate release from ICE custody.”
Spokesmen for the Department of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the judge’s order. Messages seeking comment were left with Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval Moshenberg.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but originally immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family. When Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who oppose President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States by court order. Since he cannot be deported to El Salvador, ICE is seeking to deport him to a series of African countries. His lawsuit in federal court alleges that the Republican Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish Abrego Garcia for the embarrassment of his wrongful deportation to El Salvador.
Meanwhile, in a separate immigration court filing, Abrego Garcia filed a petition to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum in the United States.
He watches: Kelmar’s attorney Abrego Garcia discusses his case amid new deportation efforts
Additionally, Abrego Garcia faces criminal charges in federal court in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling. He has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the allegation is retaliatory.
A judge ordered an evidentiary hearing on the motion after previously finding some evidence suggesting the prosecution against Abrego Garcia “may be retaliatory.” The judge said many of the statements by Trump administration officials “raise concern.”
The judge specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that appeared to indicate that the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won the wrongful deportation case.
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