Breaking down the Justice Department’s case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia
CNN
Kilmar Abrego Garcia – the man mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison then brought back to the US only to face a criminal human smuggling indictment – has been held out by the Justice Department’s as an example of the danger of having undocumented immigrants in the US.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia – the man mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison then brought back to the US only to face a criminal human smuggling indictment – has been held out by the Trump administration as an example of the danger of having undocumented immigrants in the US. Yet amid the political, diplomatic and court standoff, parts of the Justice Department’s criminal case against Abrego Garcia appears to be so tenuous that a federal magistrate judge in Tennessee strongly questioned whether keeping him locked up pending trial is merited. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to transporting other undocumented people from Texas to Maryland in an SUV in 2022 and taking part in a smuggling conspiracy. During a six-hour hearing last week, prosecutors road tested their portrait of a crime-ring-connected, cold-blooded man who state troopers stumbled upon in a 2022 traffic stop. They presented evidence and witness testimony from a Homeland Security special agent, but the defense team was able to raise major doubts regarding its accuracy and authenticity with the judge. Acting US Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Robert McGuire argued that Abrego Garcia may be a danger to the community because a 15-year-old minor allegedly in the SUV might not have been wearing a seatbelt when being driven from Texas to Maryland. The prosecutor also pointed to years old complaints of domestic violence by Abrego Garcia’s wife. “The federal government wants to make a statement, that it is serious about immigration violations and also wants to overcome the embarrassment associated with shipping (Abrego Garcia) out of the country and having to bring him back,” said Chris Slobogin, a criminal justice law professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
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