Now facing federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee, lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was living in Prince George’s County before being wrongly deported, said his Maryland lawsuit should continue “until the Government is held accountable for its blatant, willful, and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family.”
Last Friday, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a large human smuggling operation that helped transport immigrants who were in the United States illegally.
As Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the unsealing of a grand jury indictment, an acting assistant attorney general filed a motion in federal court in Maryland, saying the U.S. had “complied with the Court’s order, and indeed have successfully facilitated Abrego Garcia’s return.”
In addition, Yaakov Roth, said Abrego Garcia’s suit against the government “should be dismissed as moot.”
However, in a motion filed Sunday in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s attorney Andrew Rossman wrote the idea that the Trump administration complied with the court’s order “is pure farce.”
Abrego Garcia lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.
Trump administration officials said he was deported based on a 2019 accusation from Maryland police that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.
In the newly-filed motion, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the federal government has “engaged in an elaborate, all of government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia.”
His attorneys said the federal government only began developing the human trafficking case against Abrego Garcia under threat of sanctions. And the decision to return him to Tennessee, rather than Maryland didn’t comply with the U.S. Supreme Court directive to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
Even with Abrego Garcia in Tennessee, and facing criminal charges, his lawyers said the Maryland court is still in a position to impose sanctions, and the plaintiffs “are entitled to examine in discovery whether Government officials acted in good faith.”
As of Monday morning, the federal government had not filed a response to Abrego Garcia’s objection to its request to dismiss the suit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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