Main: President Donald Trump addresses reporters while signing executive orders and proclamations in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Inset: Updated photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (CASA).
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father and alleged gang member who was deported from the United States due to “an administrative error” by the Trump administration, is seeking a 30-day stay to permit him to remain in the U.S. and in federal custody for the upcoming month while he “considers his options” and decides if “any further relief is needed,” his legal team states.
Federal prosecutors approved the “brief postponement” through a motion presented Sunday to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw. The government concurred that the request would not hinder the parties” preparation for Abrego Garcia’s criminal trial in Tennessee, as outlined in the documentation. This decision follows a Maryland judge being informed earlier this month by the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia would be returned to ICE custody and deported to a third country if released from pretrial detention, despite his pending criminal case.
“We have been advised by the government that if the court denies the government’s motion for revocation, the defendant would be transferred to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, and DHS would begin removal proceedings,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said Sunday. “Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the court deny the government’s motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days.”
Noting how the Justice Department “does not object to this request,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers told Crenshaw that prosecutors informed them they would continue producing discovery during the 30-day time period and “collaborate” on a scheduling order in advance of the July 30 deadline. They said both parties do not anticipate a continuance of the Jan. 27, 2026, trial date due to the requested relief, which is described by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers as a “30-day stay of the issuance of any release order.”
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 he is facing in Tennessee, with his attorneys calling the case against him a “farce.”
Abrego Garcia’s indictment alleges that from 2016 to 2025, he “conspired to bring undocumented aliens to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere, ultimately passing through Mexico before crossing into Texas.” Abrego Garcia and several other alleged coconspirators are accused of transporting “thousands of undocumented aliens” into the U.S., “many of whom” were allegedly members of the MS-13 gang. The charges are related to a traffic stop during which he was allegedly caught driving nine “Hispanic males” who lacked “identification” in his Chevrolet Suburban.
The 29-year-old father of three was transported back to the U.S. on June 6 to face the charges after the Trump administration claimed for months that the government had its hands tied and couldn’t do anything to get him back following his deportation. 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.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, a Barack Obama appointee who has been handling Abrego Garcia’s case in Maryland, dressed federal prosecutors down earlier this month after being told about the government’s desire to immediately remove him, regardless of the status of his criminal case.
“I’m deeply concerned that if there’s not some restraint on you that Mr. Abrego will be on another plane to another country with no notice to his lawyers,” the judge told a DOJ attorney. “Because that’s what you’ve done before.”
