Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia will ask an immigration judge to reopen his case and seek asylum, his lawyers told a federal judge on Wednesday, as the Trump administration remains restricted from removing the illegal immigrant quickly pending a habeas corpus hearing in October.
At a scheduling hearing Wednesday morning, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Abrego Garcia’s habeas corpus lawsuit for Oct. 6. Xinis also extended her injunction preventing Abrego Garcia from being deported or moved more than 200 miles away from the courthouse pending the hearing.
Abrego Garcia was denied asylum in 2019 after failing to file his claim within a year of arriving in the United States, which is required by asylum law. The immigration court in 2019 also issued a final deportation order, which allowed him to be deported to any country except his native El Salvador. His lawyers said Wednesday he would seek a new bid to be granted asylum.
Separately, Abrego Garcia has filed a petition expressing “fears of persecution and torture” in Uganda, where the Trump administration has said it plans to deport him. Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that the DHS would likely be able to complete a screening regarding his alleged fears of being deported to Uganda within two weeks.
Xinis ordered the DOJ to file its briefs to her court by Sept. 22, while Abrego Garcia’s lawyer must file their responses by Sept. 29, pushing the timeline past the two weeks the DOJ said the screening would take. Xinis also ordered both sides to offer their witness lists for the evidentiary hearing by the end of the day on Oct. 2.
The federal judge said she would work to get a ruling on Abrego Garcia’s habeas corpus petition within 30 days of the hearing, meaning he will likely remain detained in the U.S. for the coming months. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said during the hearing that they would not seek his release from custody between now and the October hearing.
JUDGE HALTS REMOVAL OF ABREGO GARCIA TO UGANDA PENDING LEGAL CHALLENGE
The deportation saga of Abrego Garcia spawned national headlines earlier this year when he was removed from the U.S. and deported to his native El Salvador despite a protective order restricting his removal to his native country. After various courts, including the Supreme Court, ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return and resume his deportation process as if the removal had not occurred, he was extradited back to the U.S. in June on federal human smuggling charges.
After a federal judge in Tennessee ordered his release earlier this summer ahead of the criminal trial, Abrego Garcia was released from prison on Friday. During a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Maryland on Monday, Abrego Garcia was again detained, this time by federal immigration officials, and set for deportation. Shortly after he was detained, his lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition as part of a late bid to prevent their client’s removal from the U.S.