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Salvadoran Migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia appeared in Tennessee federal court on Wednesday for a second detention hearing after a federal judge agreed to hear an appeal from the Department of Justice to continue being held in pending criminal custody.
The Justice Department’s request for US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw concludes months of statements that contradict the turmoil from the Trump administration in the case of Abrego Garcia, who accidentally violated a court order in March and returned to the United States in June.
Robert McGuire, a U.S. attorney for the Central District of Tennessee, urged Crenshaw in court where Abrego Garcia stays on trial with a custody of criminal custody ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, arguing that “there is no combination of bail terms that will reasonably assure the safety of the community or guarantee the defendant’s future court appearance.”
Crenshaw wrapped the hearing around three hours later, informing both parties that he would file a lawsuit under advice.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer asks the judge to order his return to Maryland amid ongoing criminal cases
He suggested taking the time to review the evidence, but told the Justice Department and the lawyers of Abrego Garcia that they should not expect control even this week. He proposed to issue an order next week just before the court.
The long timeline could be a welcome relief for Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to issue an order blocking ICE from deporting clients from third countries as Maryland’s federal judge, District Judge Paula Sinis, has been released from US criminal custody.
Judge Sinis, who has presided over civil cases since March, suggested that after days of evidence hearings on Friday, he planned to issue a temporary restraining order that required Abrego Garcia to be detained on ice.
Many of Wednesday’s hearings were similar to Abrego’s arrest in June, led by US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes. Judge Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia should be released in a criminal case regardless of trial, but she later agreed to a request from his lawyer and agreed to maintain federal custody to avoid being deported.
Kilmer Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sula, is standing with protesters to meet outside federal court to support Garcia during a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty)
Holmes later revised her order to allow Abrego Garcia to maintain federal custody at the request of his own legal team. His lawyers cited concerns that ICE would soon take him to immigration custody and expel him to a third country upon his release.
As the Wednesday hearing was extended for three hours and three hours, it appeared to have been provided with new evidence or testimony that could force Crenshaw to break Holmes’ original resolve.
Crenshaw told the Justice Department he is “struggling” with the government’s claim that “clear and persuasive evidence” that the community has set “no conditions” and “there is a “struggle” government that has “clear and persuasive evidence” that can control the dangers pose by Abrego ahead of a criminal trial.
“It’s a pretty high standard,” he said.
The judge sets strict conditions for Abrego Garcia’s release as Trump officials pursue a lawsuit against him
The government said it plans to call one witness at the hearing, Homeland Security Investigation Agent Peter Joseph, who was also the only witness last month.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer told the court he had no intention of calling witnesses ahead of the hearing.
But even that submission highlights conflicting statements from the Justice Department regarding Abrego Garcia’s plans, which are at the heart of two well-known hearings in Maryland and Tennessee.
After a few months of delay, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the United States, where he was soon slapped on a newly sealed federal indictment indicting him for a crime that stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to these charges and was released pending trial by US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes.
Last week, Justice Department officials and ICE officials made concessions to the plan, telling Maryland District Judge Paula Sinis that the government will immediately remove the lawsuit to expel Abrego Garcia into a third country, regardless of the status of the criminal case. In doing so, they defeated it in previous claims from US officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondy.
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Attorney General Pam Bondy will speak with President Donald Trump at the White House briefing room in Washington, DC on June 27, 2025. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Last week, Judge Sinis asked if the government was planning to put Abrego Garcia under ice custody until the end of his criminal case in Tennessee. The administration’s lawyers did not engrave their words.
“No,” Justice Department lawyer Jonathan Ginn simply replied.
“We don’t have the intention to put him under ice custody while we wait for the criminal case to unfold,” Gin told Xinis. “He will be removed, just like any other illegal alien in that process.”
Abrego Garcia’s second custody hearing in Tennessee came after his legal team asked a federal judge in Maryland last week to impose the Trump administration “repeated violations” of the administration’s “bad” and “repeated violations,” according to filings.
The federal judge’s orders the return of exiled immigrants to us and rejects Trump’s request.
US President Donald Trump will speak at the Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Sinis also touched Justice Department officials on details about when she launched a federal investigation of Abrego Garcia in another district of Tennessee and how the timing of the investigation and federal charges were squared in her own court testimony.
She said that with the government’s own approval, it began an investigation into Abrego Garcia in the Central District of Tennessee on April 28, 2025.
“at the same time [the government] “American Abrego Garcia said he had “not had the power to produce,” but Trump administration officials said, “We’ve already secured charges against him in the Central Tennessee district.”
“Yes, your honor,” replied Ohickey.
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The incredible Xinis said just six days later that the government testified that it had no power to bring him back to the United States.
Here, “considering a series of illegal activities,” I feel that it is within my authority to order this hearing. She said hearing testimony from at least one witness with perhaps multiple knowledge can answer these questions from governments with which the government has custody.
Breanne Deppisch is a national political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the Trump administration, focusing on the Department of Justice, the FBI and other national news.
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