A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official testified Thursday in federal court in Maryland that the agency doesn't know where Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be deported should he be released from federal custody next week.
Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant, was deported to his home country but was returned to the U.S. to face human smuggling charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. The Trump administration asserts that he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Thomas Giles, assistant director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, testified in front of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, The Hill reported.
Xinis, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, on Monday ordered the Department of Justice to produce a witness to provide plans for Abrego Garcia if he's released from custody in Tennessee as soon as next week.
"We don't work cases not in ICE custody preemptively, because our docket officers are worried about the cases they have now," Giles told Xinis.
Giles testified for several hours, but Xinis will hear legal arguments from attorneys before she issues a ruling, The Hill reported. The hearing will resume Friday morning, a court official told reporters.
Giles testified that ICE has issued an immigration detainer requesting custody if Abrego Garcia is released, which is expected to be honored. That would enable the transfer to happen in a "secure environment" in the Tennessee jail, Giles said. But until that happens, Giles said ICE does not determine how to proceed with one person's immigration case.
"No decision has been made," Giles said.
The administration has outlined two potential options for deporting Abrego Garcia, The Hill reported. Officials could look to lift the 2019 immigration ruling protecting Abrego Garcia from removal to El Salvador, which was issued over gang threats to his family's pupusa business.
Or the administration could try to deport him to a country where he has no ties, known as a third-country removal.
"It can be a few days to a few weeks" before the country is identified, Giles said, according to The Hill.
Hours before Thursday's hearing, government attorneys, in an attempt to prevent Xinis from taking any action, agreed to abide by certain procedures before deporting him to a third country, The Hill reported. But Abrego Garcia's attorneys said those guarantees don't alleviate their concerns.
"It leaves open the critical question of whether my client will receive effective notice and an opportunity to be heard in a court before he is removed to an as-yet unidentified third country," attorney Jonathan Cooper said.
After his March arrest in Maryland, officials moved Abrego Garcia to a Louisiana lockup before deporting him to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia's attorneys want him returned to Maryland, where he lived with his U.S.-born wife, if he is placed in ICE custody.
Giles testified the decision is made on the basis of bed availability, which changes daily, so there's no indication of where Abrego Garcia would end up. On cross-examination, Giles conceded he did not ask the relevant field office whether it had made preparations, given that this is a high-profile case.
Giles acknowledged to Xinis that ICE has discretion and might consider that Abrego Garcia still has a pending criminal case in Tennessee.
"It's a possibility it could be anywhere in the United States," Giles said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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