Expelled by mistake last March and then discreetly repatriated to the United States after months of legal iron, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran legally residing in Maryland, asked Friday to voluntarily extend his detention. In question: the fear of being referred as soon as it is released, despite a favorable court decision.
Married to an American, Abrego Garcia had been expelled to Salvador on March 15, with more than 250 other people, mostly suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan gang. After the Supreme Court ordered its return, the Trump administration finally agreed to bring it back on June 6. But in the process, the authorities have launched new prosecution against him, this time accusing him of facilitating the illegal presence of migrants in the United States.
An unusual request
A federal judge in Nashville (Tennessee) nevertheless considered this week that there was no need to keep him in detention under these accusations and set the terms of his release. She also clarified that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was accused of helping the illegal stay but no “traffic” of migrants. But, in an unusual request, his lawyers asked for a stay of this outing, fearing immediate expulsion to a “third country”, mentioned the day before by representatives of the government before another jurisdiction.
The lawyers of Kilmar Abrego Garcia say they are “well aware of the paradoxical nature of this request” and explain their request by the fact that they cannot grant “any credit to the insurance of the Ministry of Justice” as to the respect of the rights of their client. The government, which does not oppose this postponement until July 16, has recalled that the expulsion procedure will actually resume as soon as it is released.
Our file on the United States
An “invasion” of the United States by “foreign criminals”
Donald Trump erected the fight against illegal immigration in absolute priority, evoking an “invasion” of the United States by “criminals from abroad” and communicating abundantly on the expulsions of immigrants.
But his massive expulsion program was thwarted or slowed down by multiple court decisions, in particular on the grounds that the people targeted should be able to assert their rights.
