US will try to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to ‘third country’ before trial
Justice Department lawyer reveals plan to expel El Salvadoran man, who is at the centre of a lawsuit over deportation
The US government would initiate deportation proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he is released from prison before he stands trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, a Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge in Maryland on Monday.
The disclosure by US lawyer Jonathan Guynn contradicts statements by representatives for the Justice Department and the White House, who said last month that Abrego Garcia would stand trial and possibly spend time in an American prison before the government moves to deport him.
The Trump administration violated a US immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to his native country because he is likely to face persecution there by local gangs that terrorised his family.
