(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia until at least early October.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said Wednesday she will extend her temporary restraining blocking his removal until Abrego Garcia’s latest deportation challenge in court is resolved.
Judge Xinis scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Oct. 6 in the case challenging Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Uganda. She said during a hearing on Wednesday that she will issue a ruling within 30 days of the Oct. 6 hearing.
The judge also said that Abrego Garcia, who is currently being held in a detention center in Virginia, must remain in custody within a 200-mile radius of the court in Maryland.
Judge Xinis said she will not order Abrego Garcia released from immigration custody, saying that issue should be decided by an immigration judge. On Monday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys moved to reopen his immigration case and apply for asylum.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland, to which has pleaded not guilty.
After being released on Friday while awaiting trial, he was taken into immigration custody upon checking in with the ICE office in Baltimore on Monday, and transferred to a detention center in Tennessee where authorities said he could be deported to Uganda on immigration charges.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion Monday to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum, arguing that because Abrego Garcia was deported and then brought back to the U.S., he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S.
In the filing, the attorney also said that reopening the case is warranted to allow Abrego Garcia to designate Costa Rica as the country of removal should be be deported.
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