Overview

• A Justice Department attorney told Judge Paula Xinis on July 7 that ICE will initiate removal proceedings against Abrego Garcia if he is released from Tennessee custody before his human smuggling trial
• Government lawyers said the current plan is to deport him to an unnamed third country rather than return him to El Salvador, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that eased limits on third-country removals
• Xinis pressed the administration for specifics and ordered a government witness to testify under oath on Thursday about the timing, destination and process for his deportation
• Abrego Garcia remains detained in Tennessee on smuggling charges from a 2022 traffic stop, to which he has pleaded not guilty, while his family’s civil suit over his March deportation continues in Maryland
• His attorneys have asked the court to order an interim transfer to Maryland upon release so he can challenge any removal and safeguard his due process rights amid conflicting government statements