(The Center Square) – Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia say the government shutdown should not delay his immigration and deportation case.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security filed a motion in the U.S. District Court of Maryland asking for a stay in light of the shutdown.
“Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including ’emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,'” the motion said.
Garcia’s lawyers said in a motion filed Thursday that the only reason for a delay is when “Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
“That constitutional protection means that a lapse in appropriations cannot suspend habeas corpus proceedings,” his attorneys said in court documents.
Garcia was denied asylum by an immigration judge, who said in an order this week that there was not enough evidence to show that U.S. officials planned to deport Garcia to another country. Garcia’s attorneys have 30 days to appeal the order.
The case drew national attention amid claims that Garcia was deported to El Salvador illegally in March.
Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Garcia was driving a vehicle with eight passengers at the time of the stop. A police officer said in a video that Garcia was “hauling these people for money.”
Republican lawmakers say Garcia should be deported.
“Under no circumstances should Kilmar Abrego Garcia be granted asylum, and it is a victory for the rule of law that a judge denied his request to reopen his asylum application today,” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a post on social media. “This man belongs anywhere but the United States.”
