The judge in Baltimore rejected an application to reopen Abrego Garcia's 2019 asylum case, but that is not the final word. Abrego Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
He entered the country 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.
Abrego 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.
While the federal judge in Tennessee can order prosecutors there not to make any prejudicial statements about Abrego 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.
