After Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from jail, a judge in the US has ordered immigration officials to stop them from detaining him and deporting him.
Two courts decided the Maryland father’s fate on Wednesday, part of a one-two punch.
Abrego Garcia was put on the national television in March after a court order prevented him from being removed from El Salvador and his government’s administration from wrongfully deporting him.
His case became a symbol of Trump’s initial mass deportation campaign, with some calling him a slapdash who allegedly violated the law’s basic rights.
As the Trump administration files charges against him, Abrego Garcia has been detained in a Tennessee prison in recent weeks.
However, US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville upheld the ruling on Wednesday’s twin decision, rejecting Trump administration claims that he might pose a threat or a risk of deportation.
Crenshaw also questioned the lack of proof in support of the Trump administration’s claims that Abrego Garcia belongs to the MS-13 gang.
As he prepares for a trial in January on human smuggling charges, his decision could lead to Abrego Garcia’s release from custody. His release has also been delayed by 30 days, as requested by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, who fear he might be deported.
Under the direction of US District Judge Paula Xinis, a second court hearing was taking place in Maryland at the same time on Wednesday.
In connection with his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura’s lawsuit, she has been hearing arguments about Abrego Garcia’s unlawful deportation to El Salvador.
In light of Trump’s announcement to deport Abrego Garcia if he is released, Xinis issued a ruling mandating that immigration officials give him three business days’ notice if they start the removal process.
According to Xinis, the Trump administration has “doed little to assure the court that Abrego Garcia’s due process rights will be protected” .
Additionally, Xinis directed the government to reinstate Abrego Garcia’s previous legal standing, which made it possible for him to live and work in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March, violating a 2019 immigration judge’s ban on him from returning to his native country.
Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador as a teenager to avoid gang threats, according to his attorneys.
The government acknowledged that there was an “administrative error” in Abrego Garcia’s removal from El Salvador.
In the end, Judge Xinis and the US Supreme Court decided that the Trump administration had a duty to “facilitate” his return to the US.
However, the Trump administration reacted by denying Abrego Garcia’s removal was justified and labeling him as a member of MS-13.
Trump even shared a photo of himself with Abrego Garcia’s knuckles, with the letters and numbers “MS-13” digitally superimposed on each finger, next to actual tattoos of a smiley face and marijuana leaf.
Trump falsely claimed on April 18 that “he has MS-13 tattooed on his knuckles.”
Judge Xinis had threatened to sue the Trump administration for not adequately facilitating Abrego Garcia’s release or providing timely updates. Given that he was being held in El Salvador, officials claimed that they had little authority to free him.
However, the Trump administration abruptly announced Abrego Garcia’s re-entry into the US in early June. The Justice Department made the announcement that it had obtained an indictment to bring charges against Abrego Garcia at the same time.
A video from a traffic stop in November 2022 that shows Abrego Garcia driving an SUV with three rows of seats is at the government’s defense. The nine passengers may have been involved in human smuggling, according to a police officer heard in the video, but no charges were brought at the time.
His attorneys have criticized the government’s case as “preposterous.”
The attorneys had requested Abrego Garcia remain in custody while he was awaiting trial before Xinis’ ruling out of concern that he might be deported right away if found guilty.
The Trump administration has argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported to a third country, even one where he has no personal ties, despite the fact that he cannot be once more.
The Trump administration could, at least temporarily, continue deporting people to these third-party nations while legal challenges are brought against the practice, according to the US Supreme Court’s ruling last month.
South Sudan and Eswatini, former states of Swaziland, are two of the third-party nations that have been accused of violating human rights in their prisons.
On Wednesday, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman criticized Xinis’ most recent ruling on social media site X.
The unsupported judge’s attempt to persuade Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop an MS-13 gang member who has been indicted by a grand jury for human trafficking is illegal and illegal, according to spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, reiterating unsupported assertions.
However, the court decisions on Wednesday were applauded by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys.
Source: Aljazeera
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