Abrego Garcia to remain in U.S. for prosecution hearing in Nashville

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - AUGUST 25: Surrounded by reporters, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura enter a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. The U.S. Government is threatening to deport Garcia, a Maryland construction worker from El Salvador, to Uganda after he rejected a plea deal to be charged with Human Smuggling and deported to Costa Rica. Earlier this year Garcia was wrongfully deported to a notorious anti-terrorism prison CECOT in El Salvador. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, enter a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:17 AM – Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia is to remain in the United States through at least late November, according to new filings.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Md. Approved a new schedule that allows him to appear at a two-day evidentiary hearing in Nashville, Tennessee, next week.

Xinis previously blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation in August.

The hearing will inspect whether prosecutors were “selective” or “vindictive” in their prosecution of Abrego Garcia since the 2022 traffic stop that initially led to federal immigrant smuggling charges.

Additionally, Xinis set a motion hearing before Thanksgiving, on November 21st, to look into the government’s request to dissolve her injunction preventing Abrego Garcia from immediate removal from the U.S.

Advertisement

Senior officials from the Trump administration told the judge they had planned to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia as early as Friday, October 31st, despite the ongoing criminal investigation in Tennessee.

“If there were no prohibition, we would remove him on Friday,” U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer Drew Ensign told her.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of Tennessee is considering whether or not to call on Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche to testify. Blanche is President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and the current second-in-command at the DOJ.

Abrego Garcia’s legal team argues that Blanche’s testimony is needed to establish who authorized the prosecution and why.

On Monday, Judge Crenshaw reproached Department of Homeland Security (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi for making comments on the case in violation of a court rule. The judge ordered all DOJ and DHS department employees to be notified of the rule, preventing them from making any public remarks while the case is ongoing.

Crenshaw ordered the Justice Department to bring forward internal communications tied to their decision to charge Abrego Garcia, which he will privately review before deciding what may be imparted to the defense.

Abrego Garcia, 30, has been fighting removal from the U.S. in both civil and criminal courts in Maryland and Tennessee.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!

Sponsored Content Below

 

Share this post!