Federal prosecutors on Thursday told a judge that the Trump administration will begin removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia to deport him a country other than his native El Salvador if he is released from a Tennessee jail.
When U.S. Magistrate Judge Paula Xinis asked about the timing of the removal: "30 seconds or 30 days or 30 months…," a federal prosecutor answered that he could only say the removal was not "imminent."
Xinis has scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 7.
"This defendant has been charged with horrific crimes, including trafficking children, and will not walk free in our country again," a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News.
JUDGE SETS STRICT CONDITIONS FOR ABREGO GARCIA'S RELEASE AS TRUMP OFFICIALS PURSUE CASE AGAINST HIM
At issue is whether the judge has the jurisdiction to order Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to Maryland. Abrego Garcia's attorneys want Xinis to order the government to return their client to Maryland and to bar U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee proceeds.
Abrego Garcia is currently in federal custody and has been indicted on human smuggling charges, which he denies.
The lawyers for Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion on Thursday asking a judge to order his return to Maryland, and to block immigration officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee continues to play out.
They told Judge Xinis that they have concerns "that the government may try to remove Mr. Gregor Garcia quickly over the weekend."
ABREGO GARCIA LAWYERS ASK US JUDGE TO ORDER RETURN TO MARYLAND AMID ONGOING CRIMINAL CASE
Another federal judge in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. However, on Wednesday, she decided to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again.
"If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland," Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote in their request to Xinis in Greenbelt, Md.
Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland with his American wife and children when he was deported to El Slavador in what the Trump administration called an administrative error. He had been in the United States for over a decade.
KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA SUSPECTED OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN REPORT OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS
Meanwhile, the Trump administration maintains that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that he denies. In addition, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order against her husband in August 2020.
The order said their shared son and stepchildren needed protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children.
Earlier this month, Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges.
Fox News Digital's Breanne Deppisch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
