NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A U.S. immigration judge has denied a bid for asylum from Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has become a proxy for the partisan power struggle over immigration policy.
The judge in Baltimore on Wednesday rejected an application to reopen Garcia's 2019 asylum case, but that is not the final word. Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager. In 2019, he was arrested by immigration agents. He requested asylum but was not eligible because he had been in the U.S. for more than a year. But the judge ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador, where he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.
He was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by President Donald Trump's administration in March and was held in a notorious prison, and his case soon became a rallying point for those who oppose the Republican president's immigration crackdown. Facing a ruling from the Supreme Court, the administration returned him to the U.S. in June, only to immediately charge him with human smuggling.
Garcia faces criminal charges in Tennessee, based on a 2022 traffic stop. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also seeking to deport him to a third country, proposing Uganda first and then Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa where the king still holds absolute power. His attorneys have denounced the criminal charges and the deportation efforts, saying they are an attempt to punish him for standing up to the administration.
Garcia's request to reopen his asylum case is a calculated risk. If approved, asylum could provide him with a green card and a path to citizenship. But if he loses, an immigration judge could remove his protection from being returned to his native country. That could place him back in the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. It's where, he alleges in a lawsuit, he suffered severe beatings, sleep deprivation and psychological torture. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, has denied those allegations.
Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Garcia, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes.
His lawyers have filed motions requesting a gag order and say he will not be able to receive a fair trial because of the "highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements" made about him.
While the federal judge in Tennessee can order prosecutors there not to make any prejudicial statements about Garcia, it is unclear whether the judge's authority extends to the Department of Homeland Security, which posted about the immigration court ruling on X on Wednesday.
"His lawyers tried to fight his removal from the U.S. but one thing is certain, this Salvadoran man is not going to be able to remain in our country," according to the post.
