Miami, June 26 (EFE). – Prosecutors proposed deporting Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García to a third country when he leaves prison in Tennessee, according to a call between them and Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis to which the media had access.
“Our plan is that he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated,” Jonathan Guynn, a deputy assistant attorney general, said during the conversation.
Abrego García was originally expelled to El Salvador in March by the United States President Donald Trump administration. Ábrego García then returned to the US on Jun. 6 accused of migrant trafficking and has been jailed in Tennessee since then.
Xinis asked if Ábrego García would be sent to El Salvador or a “third country” and lawyers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) answered, “To a third country is my understanding.”
During the call, reported by various media outlets including NOTUS, there was no established timeline for the deportation.
“So it can happen in 30 seconds or 30 days or 30 months?” the judge asked. To which the prosecutor Jonathan Gynn responds that he will only say that “there are no imminent plans to remove him to a third country.”
On Monday the Supreme Court authorized the Trump administration to continue, for now, with the deportations of migrants to countries of which they are not citizens, including Libya, South Sudan, and other nations where they have no connections.
Ábrego García’s current charges stem from an encounter with police in Tennessee in 2022 when he was traveling with several alleged undocumented immigrants, as detailed in the judicial document.
The Salvadoran’s lawyers have denied that their client is guilty of these charges, which would carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Judge Barbara Holmes ordered his release last week while his case is decided, but this has been postponed while a court analyzes the risk of ICE deporting him as soon as he is free.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have also asked Judge Xinis this Thursday to order his transfer from Tennessee to Maryland to avoid deportation.
In March the Trump administration sent Abrego García along with 230 immigrants to El Salvador despite having a status that protected them from deportation.
The orders of the Supreme Court and the judge of Maryland concluded that his deportation was illegal.
