The federal judge overseeingKilmar Abrego Garcia'swrongful deportation case has ordered the Trump administration to produce witnesses who can testify about the government's plans should Abrego Garcia be released from custody in Tennessee. "I need to understand the process ... someone who can answer questions about the immediate next steps if Mr. Abrego is released from criminal custody," said the judge at a hearing Monday in Maryland. She scheduled the next hearing for Thursday afternoon. MORE: Trump administration plans to deport Abrego Garcia to 3rd country, prosecutors say The development came after a Justice Department attorney told a Judge Xinis that the government's "plan at this stage" is to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country if he is released on bond by a judge in Tennessee, where he is facing human smuggling charges. The statement came during a hearing on whether Abrego Garcia should be transferred to Maryland as he awaits trial in Tennessee. Judge Xinis said that while the injunction sheissued in Aprilto return Abrego Garcia from detention in El Salvador "has been met in part," her order specifically required his return to Maryland. "Plaintiffs are correct that the scope of injunctive relief contemplates return to the status quo ante -- that is arguably return to Maryland, to the last place Mr. Abrego Garcia had been before his unlawful arrest and unlawful detention and when he was on supervised release" after fleeing his native El Salvador, Judge Xinis said. Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution, wasbrought back to the U.S.last month to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty. Judge Xinis, who said she will take the motion to dissolve the injunction under advisement, pressed DOJ attorneys on their plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country, saying "the risk of future violations is not is not off the table." "We're in the same position, which is lots of lots of readouts to the world about what's going to happen, some doubling back on each other and inconsistent with one another, but no real paper, like no notice of removal to a third country," Judge Xinis said. When asked what country the government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to, Guynn said "there are a number of countries that are willing to accept aliens such as Abrego Garcia." "[Do] you acknowledge that there is at least, at a minimum, when DHS is attempting to identify a third country, that you reach out to that third country for assurances that the alien will not be persecuted or tortured?" Judge Xinis asked DOJ attorney Jonathan Guynn. "Yes, that's my understanding," Guynn replied. MORE: Abrego Garcia was subjected to 'severe mistreatment' at CECOT, his lawyers say Andrew Rossman, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, called the DOJ's plans to deport his client to a third country "disturbing." "The obvious concern is that the moment that he is released from the marshals' custody, he will be taken to DHS custody, put on a plane and sent to a third country," Rossman said. "We don't know which country. We don't know under what circumstances. We don't know whether it would be lawful or not." Earlier in the hearing, Judge Xinis denied the Trump administration's request to dismiss Abrego Garcia's wrongful deportation case against the government. The judge pressed DOJ attorneys on why they claimed in May court filings that they could not return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. aftersecuring an indictmentagainst him in Tennessee on charges of human smuggling. "Your client secured an indictment against Mr. Abrego Garcia on May 21 ... how could you six days later say you had no power to produce him?" Judge Xinis asked. "Why else would you file a criminal indictment against someone who you can't produce? It's illogical." Judge Xinis, pointing to a filing submitted by the DOJ in May that said the U.S. government did not have the power to bring Abrego Garcia back from detention in El Salvador, repeatedly asked DOJ layers about the timeline of the criminal probe and whether the Tennessee indictment played a role in his release. "Those are powerful arguments to say 'I don't have the power'... yet, at the same time, you're putting in place the power of the prosecutorial arm to charge an individual, who you say will never come back to the United States, with a crime," Judge Xinis said. "You began a criminal investigation ... on April 28, which was a month after this case began, and common sense would dictate that the only possible defensible use of investigative criminal resources would be if you eventually secured an indictment to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia back," Judge Xinis said. When DOJ attorney Bridget O'Hickey said the investigation into Abrego Garcia in Tennessee did not begin on April 28, Judge Xinis said the attorney was contradicting the government's sworn testimony in the criminal case. "That's noteworthy to me, because I do believe that your client has taken a different position in front of the Tennessee court," Judge Xinis said. O'Hickey said Abrego Garcia was not indicted "with the purpose of bringing him back." MORE: Trump administration plans to deport Abrego Garcia to 3rd country, prosecutors say "He was indicted because he was under investigation for those criminal charges," O'Hickey said. When Judge Xinis asked the plaintiffs how they found out Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, "We found out on ABC News." Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed anemergency motionlast week seeking to have him returned to Maryland as he awaits trial, but government attorneys say they will seek to deport him to a country other than his native El Salvador, where he is prohibited from being sent due to a 2019 court order. The magistrate judge overseeing the Tennessee case is expected torelease him on bondas he awaits trial, setting up a battle over his potential removal. In a court filing last week, Abrego Garcia's attorneys said he had been subjected tosevere mistreatmentincluding "beatings, severe deprivation, inadequate nutrition and psychological torture" while he was held in CECOT, arguing that he "could face persecution or torture if removed directly to various other countries, including but not limited to countries with notorious human rights abuses like Libya, South Sudan, and Eritrea." The next hearing in Abrego Garcia's criminal case is set for July 16 in Tennessee. Robert McGuire, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, filed a motion last week to set a jury trial date "within 70 days of his initial appearance."
