Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked that he remain in a Tennessee jail for several more weeks after the Trump administration said it plans to swiftly deport him to a third country if he is released.
The Friday filing from Abrego Garcia’s team in his Tennessee criminal case comes after prosecutors told a Maryland judge Thursday they would plan to deport the man to a country other than El Salvador if he was released from custody.
“Because we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by the DOJ, we respectfully request to delay the issuance of the release order,” the attorneys wrote, saying the Justice Department must “provide reliable information concerning its intentions.”
Prosecutors on Friday agreed to the delay until a July 16 hearing but said they have no control over whether he may be deported.
“The prosecution intends to see this case to resolution. Yet as stated before this Court as recently as June 25, 2025, [the Department of Homeland Security] will and must follow their own process, relevant regulations, the existing federal statutory scheme, and appropriate case law in handling the Defendant’s future immigration proceedings and potential deportation,” prosecutors wrote.
Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a megaprison in El Salvador despite a 2019 order from an immigration court judge barring his removal to his home country.
Abrego Garcia spent months in the Salvadoran prison system despite multiple court orders directing the Trump administration to facilitate his return.
He was brought back to the U.S. earlier this month as the Justice Department announced it would bring human trafficking charges against Abrego Garcia stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
A Tennessee judge ordered Abrego Garcia be released during the trial, finding he was not a flight risk or a public safety threat.
In Thursday’s court hearing in Maryland, prosecutors said they planned to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country other than El Salvador, though they said such plans were “not imminent.”
However, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers noted in comments to The Associated Press that the Justice Department said Abrego Garcia would first face trial before being deported.
“The irony of this request is not lost on anyone. After illegally removing Mr. Abrego to El Salvador, the government retrieved him, brought him to this District, and indicted him on baseless charges. Mr. Abrego has spent the last two weeks contesting his unlawful detention under the Bail Reform Act. In a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further,” attorneys for Abrego Garcia wrote.
“And yet the government—a government that has, at all levels, told the American people that it is bringing Mr. Abrego back home to the United States to face ‘American justice’ —apparently has little interest in actually bringing this case to trial. Instead, it has chosen to bring Mr. Abrego back only to convict him in the court of public opinion, including with respect to allegations found nowhere in the actual charges.”
In their response, the Justice Department noted that the 2019 protecting Abrego Garcia is a “withholding of removal” — one that only blocks his deportation to El Salvador but doesn’t otherwise bar his deportation.
“Given that the Defendant was first deemed deportable back in 2019 — and a copy of that order was made an exhibit to the detention hearing by the Defendant’s previous counsel— this should not be a surprise to the defense and is certainly not a surprise to this Court,” prosecutors wrote.
They added that it should have been clear that “these proceedings would logically include his potential deportation from the United States to another country.”
Updated at 2:50 p.m. EDT.