Main: President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders and proclamations in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Inset: Kilmar Abrego Garcia in updated photo (CASA).
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father and accused gang member who was removed from the United States due to “an administrative error” by the Trump administration, has requested a 30-day stay allowing him to remain in the U.S. and federal custody for the next month while he “evaluates his options” and determines whether “additional relief is necessary,” his lawyers say.
Federal prosecutors signed off on the “short delay” in a motion submitted Sunday to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, with the government agreeing that the request would not affect the parties” abilities to prepare for Abrego Garcia’s criminal trial in Tennessee, according to the filing. The decision comes after a judge in Maryland was told earlier this month by the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia would be taken back into ICE custody and removed to a third country if released from pretrial detention, even with his criminal case still pending.
“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.”
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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.”
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
