A plot twist I didn’t see coming. From The Hill newspaper,
Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked that he remain in a Tennessee jail for several more weeks after the Trump administration said it plans to swiftly deport him to a third country if he is released.
Perhaps the food is better than in ICE detention? He was never going to be released. Abrego Garcia has two cases going simultaneously, both in federal court. In Tennessee, he is awaiting trial on human smuggling charges. Back in the El Salvadoran’s adopted home of Maryland, he still has a federal immigration case pending, for some reason. The judge in the Tennessee case is trying to get him released. Yet, Abrego Garcia is asking to stay in jail.
The feds have made it clear that Abrego Garcia will never walk free in the U.S., ever again. In the background, there is an Immigration Court case churning, which holds the promise of a third-country deportation, as he finds return to his native land objectionable.
The complication lies in jurisdictional issues. The prosecutors in the federal cases work for the U.S. Dept. of Justice. The “prosecutors” in Immigration Court work for Homeland Security.
I may need to create a diagram to keep it all straight.
