Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s legal strategy is smart but dangerous, experts say

Kilmer Abrego Garcia Request for The US exile Experts say it’s a careful legal strategy. Efforts to deport him.

But it’s also gambling. Depending on how the court ruled, Abrego Garcia was able to return inside The infamous El Salvador Prison Where he claims He was beaten and tortured psychologically.

“It’s a strategic move,” Memphis-based immigration lawyer Andrew Rankin said of the asylum request. “And that can certainly backfire, but that’s what I do if I represent him.”

Abrego Garcia, 30, It has become a flash point That’s all President Donald Trump’s immigration policy When he was illegally deported to his home country in March. The Republican administration is trying to deport him again.

Here’s what you need to know about his case:

“You can’t beat every case.”

The administration deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador because he said he was a member of the MS-13 gang. That’s the allegation that Abrego Garcia denied and that he was not charged.

His removal to El Salvador Violated the U.S. immigration judge’s ruling Since 2019, when he banned his deportation. The judge found that Abrego Garcia faced a credible threat from a local gang who forced his family to terrorize him.

Following a US Supreme Court order, the administration returned him to the United States in June. But that was just Face human smuggling feeshis lawyers call it stupid and vindictive.

The administration says it intends to deport Abrego Garcia To the African country of Uganda. Stephen Miller, deputy White House Chief of Staff and a leading architect in Trump’s immigration policy, told reporters Friday that Garcia “he told me he didn’t want to go back to El Salvador.”

Miller said the administration “respects that demand by providing him with another place to live.”

To fight back, Abrego Garcia Notified the US government He fears that he will be sent to Uganda, which has documented human rights violations. He said he believes he could be persecuted, tortured or sent to El Salvador.

But even if he blocks the immigration court from deporting to Uganda, he will likely face an attempt to take him to another country, and will take him to another country until the government is successful, Rankin said.

“With averages, you can’t win every case,” the lawyer said. “The government has sunk their teeth at what they’re doing with Kilmer and immigration in general. It’s no point for them to just give up the fight.”

Take risks

But exile could end the fight.

This request only focuses on El Salvador, his native country, which had previously shown that Abrego Garcia had a reliable fear of gang persecution.

But he is taking risks by resuming the 2019 immigration case, Rankin said. If he loses his bid for asylum, the immigration judge can remove his protection from being returned to his home country.

It could bring him back to the infamous Terrorism Confinement Centeror cecot. Abrego Garcia is where he claims in the lawsuit, where he was subjected to serious assault, severe lack of sleep and psychological torture. President of El Salvador, Naive Buquel, has I denied these allegations.

Abrego Garcia applied for asylum in 2019. The immigration judge denied his request as Abrego Garcia, who had fled to Maryland without a document, came more than a year after the arrival in the United States.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers will argue that he now has the right to demand asylum, as it has been less than a year since he was illegally deported to El Salvador, Rankin said.

If approved, asylum can provide him with a green card and a path to citizenship.

“I’m not going to let this go.”

The Abrego Garcia’s asylum petition passes the US immigration court system, not a part of the judiciary, but a department of the Department of Justice, and under the authority of the Trump administration.

That’s where the risk poses.

Abrego Garcia has A team of lawyers Unlike many people facing deportation, they fight for him. And the federal judges are Monitoring his immigration case.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland to allow him to exercise his constitutional rights to combat deportation in immigration courts.

US District Judge Paula Sinis said she can’t control whether he’s getting asylum or being deported, but she’ll ensure his legitimate process. His team says he is entitled to cases and appeals in immigration courts, including the US Court of Appeals.

“Even if he wins asylum, the government will appeal,” Rankin said. “They’re not going to let this go. Why after they invest months and months in this one guy, why are they?”

Rankin noted that if Abrego Garcia remains within the jurisdiction of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that court’s law governs his asylum claim. He said the courts are generally positive about asylum claims and will likely give Abrego Garcia a “fair shaking.”

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Associated Press Writer Luena Rodriguez-Feo Vileira from Washington contributed to this report.