Federal judge hears more arguments on return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Maryland

GREENBELT, Md (DC News Now) — The federal government has been called back to court on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wants to know exactly where the government will send Kilmar Abrego Garcia if a federal judge in Tennessee releases him on July 16.

Abrego Garcia remains in custody there on federal human smuggling charges in connection with a November 30, 2022, traffic stop. Federal prosecutors proceeded with the charges after Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. following his accidental deportation to his native El Salvador earlier this year. A ruling determined Abrego Garcia could not be sent there for safety reasons.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia has the right not to be sent to a country in which he will suffer torture,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney.

Abrgo Garcia’s wife joined dozens of others outside the U.S. District Courthouse before Monday’s hearing. Xinis heard arguments as to the federal government’s request to dismiss its case involving Abrgo Garcia since he is back in the country. His attorneys want him returned to Maryland, where he lived with family in Prince George’s County.

“The purpose of bringing him before this courthouse is to put him in the ex ante position,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “Right in the position he was before the unlawful arrest.”

The March 12, 2025, arrest led to Abrego Garcia’s deportation. The federal government has said it will take Abrego Garcia back into custody and deport him if he’s released following a July 16 hearing in Tennessee.

“The last time that Kilmer Abrego Garcia was put on an airplane, he did not know where that airplane was flying to until it landed at the airport in El Salvador,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg.

He does not want to see that happen again to his client.

Xinis also dismissed two requests by the federal government to dismiss its case against Abrego Garcia.