A federal judge just issued a ruling on MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s request to not go free before his trial for human smuggling.
His lawyers want him to remain behind bars because they fear he could be deported again before his trial, and they got their wish.
Here’s more from the AP:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he’s released to await his trial on human smuggling charges, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled Monday.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay his release because of what they described as “contradictory statements” by President Donald Trump’s administration over what would happen to the Salvadoran national. The lawyers wrote in a brief to the court Friday that “we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue” by the Justice Department, adding that the “irony of this request is not lost on anyone.”
Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin told The Associated Press on Thursday that the department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him, stating that Abrego Garcia “has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again.”
Hours earlier, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a “third country” that isn’t El Salvador. Guynn said there was no timeline for the deportation plans.
Okay I’m glad this MS-13 gangbanger will stay in prison until he’s tried, but this argument from his lawyers sounds stupid to me. Clearly the US wants to try Garcia or they wouldn’t have brought him back into the country. Why would they bring him back, just to deport him?
Guynn’s comments about there not being a timeline for deportation is because Garcia hasn’t actually hasn’t been tried yet, so they don’t know when he will be deported to a third party country.
But hey, I’m glad he won’t be walking around going free. He doesn’t deserve freedom.