Abrego Garcia's lawyers now want him to remain in custody for three more weeks

Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are now asking a federal judge to keep him in custody for roughly three more weeks, saying they fear that if the judge does order him released, the Trump administration will try to deport him rather than keep him here to stand trial.

Sean Hecker, one of the lawyers, said they want their client to stay in pretrial detention until at least July 16 to prevent deportation officers from getting their hands on him.

It’s a striking reversal after the lawyers spent weeks arguing for Mr. Abrego Garcia not to be detained.

But Mr. Hecker said the administration has sent conflicting signals about what it wants to do with Mr. Abrego Garcia, the illegal immigrant from El Salvador whose status has tested the limits of a messy and at times contradictory U.S. immigration system.

“A short delay will prevent the government from removing Mr. Abrego and allow time for the government to provide reliable information concerning its intentions,” Mr. Hecker said.

The Justice Department said it was fine with delaying Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release and said it “intends to see this case to resolution.” But the lawyers said they cannot control what Homeland Security, which has independent immigration powers, will do.

Mr. Abrego Garcia is currently being held in detention in Tennessee, where he faces a criminal charge of migrant smuggling. He’s also the subject of another court case in Maryland, where his family challenged his deportation in March as unlawful.

The judge in that Maryland case had agreed and ordered him un-deported from a Salvadoran prison — a move the administration refused until it won the criminal indictment. Then it brought him back, but rather than send him to Maryland, where Judge Paula Xinis had sought his return, he was brought to Tennessee, where he faces the criminal case.

The Justice Department argued he should be kept in detention so he doesn’t flee before trial, but a judge this week rejected that, saying he’s not a flight risk and doesn’t meet the standard for pretrial detention.

The government has said it could still detain him on immigration violations — but said in a court proceeding in Maryland on Thursday that it may then try to deport him to another country rather than have him remain and stand trial.

A Justice Department official then told The Associated Press that it wants Mr. Abrego Garcia to remain here and stand trial in the criminal case.

Mr. Hecker said the proceedings are a “sham of a criminal case.”

He said it appears as though the Trump administration “has little interest in actually bringing this case to trial.”