During today’s hearing, a federal judge suggested that she may schedule an evidentiary hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case as soon as this Friday.
All Rise News will report live from the courtroom. Stay informed.
Moments after urging a large crowd of supporters to keep up hope, Kilmar Abrego Garcia submitted to a mandatory check-in at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Baltimore field office, where he was quickly taken into custody. Almost simultaneously, Abrego’s lawyers filed their latest federal lawsuit seeking to prevent his deportation — this time, to Uganda.
On Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis made clear that any attempt to send Abrego far away from his family to Africa in an attempt to prevent him from asserting his constitutional right to a trial would be illegal.
"You can't condition the relinquishing of a constitutional right in that regard," Xinis said during a telephone conference.
In a Substack Live video immediately following the hearing, Allison Gill and I break down the takeaways from Abrego’s latest habeas corpus lawsuit and a reckoning could come quickly.
Abrego’s lawyers seek an order forcing the government to justify his new round of detention and prevent his deportation to Uganda without due process. If Abrego is to be deported, his attorneys expressed their preference for Costa Rica, whose government agreed to protect their client’s human rights to live there as a refugee or resident.
Abrego intends to show that the government chose that country “to punish him for his constitutionally protected activity” — that is, for suing the government to win his return from El Salvador, successfully obtaining release on bail in his criminal case, and refusing to forfeit his right to a trial.
Judge Xinis said an evidentiary hearing could come as soon as Friday, and both parties will submit their proposed briefing schedule on Tuesday.
Note:
In the video, I mention Abrego’s remarks before he appeared at ICE’s Baltimore field office for his check-in, and the full press conference is below. Abrego’s remarks begin roughly seven minutes into the archived video, and his speech ends on a defiant note, with Abrego being fully aware of the new and indeterminate detention that is awaiting him inside the building.
“No matter what happens today in my ICE check-in, promise me this: Keep fighting and praying for the dignity and liberty, not only of me, but for everybody,” Abrego says in Spanish shortly before the 13-minute mark.
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