This is a joke, right?
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys ask to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum
Abrego Garcia, who was rearrested Monday in Maryland after he was released Friday from criminal custody in Tennessee, is currently being held in a detention center in Virginia, where the federal government is temporarily blocked from deporting him pending further proceedings in a habeas case.
“At 5pm yesterday, Petitioner filed a motion to reopen before an immigration judge to seek asylum in the United States,” his attorneys said in a proposed scheduling order filed on Tuesday. “Petitioner proposes that the parties allow the immigration judge to resolve that motion within two weeks from today.”
According to the emergency motion to reopen the case, his attorneys argue that because Abrego Garcia was deported and then brought back to the U.S., he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S.
The motion asks the immigration court in Baltimore to “immediately” order a stay of removal to afford Abrego Garcia “an opportunity to seek protection from persecution and torture in Uganda,” where the government has indicated he could be sent.
Um, he didn’t voluntarily show up at the border declaring asylum: the government brought him back to face charges for felony human trafficking. Members of gangs are not eligible for asylum. Nor are wife beaters. It’s an interesting attempt by his lawyers, though, they have to throw everything at the wall.
“Respondent fears persecution and torture in Uganda because he is a Salvadoran national and would be a deportee without any legal status in Uganda,” his attorney said in the filing. “Furthermore, he is at risk of being removed to El Salvador by the Ugandan government where he is likely to once again face persecution and torture within CECOT.”
He can go anywhere he wants, as long as it is outside the U.S.
In the filing, the attorney also said that reopening the case is warranted to allow Abrego Garcia to designate Costa Rica as the country of removal.
Just say “Put me on a plane to Costa Rica. I’m outa here” and they’ll send you. Because, otherwise, the government is going to prosecute him and stick him in jail for quite some time for trafficking, and then deport him once released. Of course, I fully expect some wacko judge to rule in his asylum claim, because that’s what they seem to do. Which will then be overturned by a non-wacko court.
It’s still amazing, even knowing the Democratic Party, how much they are willing to defend this guy.
William Teach: It’s an interesting attempt by his lawyers, though, they have to throw everything at the wall.
The law and regulations say he can apply for asylum when he enters the United States. Whether he is eligible is a due process matter.
William Teach: Just say “Put me on a plane to Costa Rica. I’m outa here” and they’ll send you.
That’s not what happened. The government told him that he could go to Costa Rica, but only if he pleaded guilty; otherwise, they intended to deport him to Uganda.
You seem to have an inordinate trust of the government, rather than being skeptical and holding the government to account. Accountability, for Garcia, for the government, for officials of the government, is the best guarantee of liberty. It’s not perfect—no human endeavor is—but is better than unchecked autocracy.
33 AD: “Give us Barabbas!”
2025 AD: “Give us Abrego Garcia!”