On Monday, a Tennessee judge agreed to postpone the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from federal detention as he confronts migrant-smuggling charges in the state. This decision comes after his attorneys highlighted the “perceived conflicting positions” they claim the Trump administration holds regarding whether the Maryland father will face deportation again.

Last Friday, Abrego Garcia’s legal team requested that U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes “delay the issuance of the release order” until a hearing on July 16. At this hearing, arguments on a government motion to overturn a previous release order granted by Judge Holmes will be heard.

The attorneys accused the Trump administration of making “contradictory statements” in regards to whether it intends to remove Abrego Garcia to a “third country” — nations with no ties to the person that’s being sent there — upon his return to DHS custody following his release in the Tennessee case. The DOJ didn’t take long to respond, writing it “does not oppose” a delay in the release order because it “intends to see this case to resolution,” but that DHS “will and must follow their own process.”

“The court has considered the basis for the motion, which is the perceived conflicting positions taken by the government regarding whether it will deport Abrego pending final disposition of this case including the further review by the District Judge of the government’s request for pretrial detention,” Holmes explained in a four-page order Monday. “Essentially, Abrego seeks the due process to which he is constitutionally and statutorily entitled, namely whether the government can make the necessary showing under the Bail Reform Act for his detention pending trial.”

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Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious work prison in El Salvador without due process, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges in Tennessee, with his attorneys calling the case against him a “farce.”

The 29-year-old was transported back to the U.S. on June 6 to face the new charges after the Trump administration claimed for months that the government had its hands tied and couldn’t do anything to get him back.

His attorneys accused Homeland Security and DOJ officials of defying a federal judge and the U.S. Supreme Court by refusing to provide any information regarding what was being done to “facilitate” his return.

A DOJ lawyer admitted in court that Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported due to an “administrative error,” but the government still took no immediate action. It wasn’t until a federal grand jury in Tennessee indicted Abrego Garcia last month that he was brought back.