A federal judge in Maryland on Friday approved the transfer of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from detention at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, to Nashville for his hearing in his criminal case brought by the Trump administration following his deportation to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia’s hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4-5 before U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, according to court documents.
The transfer was authorized by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, who is overseeing a separate case in which Abrego Garcia is challenging his detention.
The Trump administration had planned as soon as Friday to deport Abrego Garcia again, this time to Liberia, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that granted him protection from removal to his native El Salvador over fears of potential violence.
Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is considering Abrego Garcia’s claim that he is being detained as punishment rather than for legitimate deportation proceedings.
Abrego Garcia, a longtime Maryland resident, has agreed to be resettled in Costa Rica, which has offered him refugee status. The administration has also discussed deporting him to other countries, including Ghana, Eswatini, and Uganda.
After several courts ordered Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador, he was brought back to the United States in June to face federal criminal charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.
The Justice Department has accused the Salvadoran of smuggling migrants across the country, charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Crenshaw earlier this week issued an order warning administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, that they could face sanctions for making inflammatory public statements about Abrego Garcia.
President Donald Trump and other officials have repeatedly labeled him an MS-13 gang member.
The Tennessee hearing follows a ruling earlier this month by Crenshaw, also an Obama appointee, finding a “likelihood” that the Justice Department’s indictment against Abrego Garcia was vindictive.
Before his arrest earlier this year, Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland with his wife and three children and was regularly checking in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the terms of his deportation protections.
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