(WHTM) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose deportation case has garnered national attention, was moved to a Pennsylvania facility, his attorneys said in a status update.

The update, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, said the Maryland father was transferred Friday morning to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, Clearfield County. Abrego Garcia was previously detained at Farmville Detention Center in Virginia.

His attorneys said the transfer came after Abrego Garcia, originally from El Salvador, raised concerns on Sept. 19 that his detention in Virginia placed “substantial burdens” on his Nashville-based defense team’s ability to prepare for his trial in a human smuggling case.

In the new filing, his attorneys said an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the transfer would allow Abrego Garcia’s legal team greater access to him. However, the attorneys said it “is not appreciably easier” for New York-based members of his defense team to travel to Pennsylvania, either.

“We are submitting this notice to explain to the Court why a motion regarding difficulties
meeting with Mr. Abrego at Farmville is not being promptly filed, and we will update the Court
once there is more visibility into Mr. Abrego’s access to counsel and ability to prepare for trial at
Moshannon,” his attorneys said in the status update.

The attorneys also expressed concern for Abrego Garcia’s safety, noting a detainee died at Mashannon by hanging last month, reports of assaults, inadequate medical care and insufficient food.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for ICE deferred abc27 News to the Department of Homeland Security.

In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, said, “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, is being transferred to ICE’s Moshannon Valley Processing Center. We are not going to allow this criminal Salvadoran gang member to be loose on U.S. streets to terrorize American citizens.”

Abrego Garcia has never been convicted of a crime, and the United States previously admitted to wrongly deporting him. He was held for months in a notorious Salvadoran prison.