A federal judge on Wednesday denied the Trump administration's request to pause the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant facing human smuggling charges — and who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” — writing in their decision that the Department of Justice’s case for keeping Garcia incarcerated “defies logic.”
Garcia was arrested without trial and wrongly deported in March despite not having been charged with a crime. He was returned by President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month under mounting pressure from federal courts. Upon his return, however, the DOJ announced he had been indicted on charges of human smuggling and conspiracy to unlawfully transport migrants for financial gain.
The DOJ’s position was rebuked, however, after U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled that prosecutors had failed to justify keeping Garcia incarcerated before trial.
“If deported, the government argues, the Department of Justice will be deprived of the opportunity to pursue its criminal charges against (Garcia),” Crenshaw wrote in her ruling.
“The Government asks the court to save it from itself because it may suffer irreparable harm completely of its own making… if the court were to indulge the government’s argument, it could lead to the inevitable conclusion that the executive’s injury on itself satisfies this strict standard. That defies logic.”