Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the man President Donald Trump’s administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, is formally seeking asylum in the United States.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told an immigration judge Wednesday that he filed the request on Tuesday to re-open his client’s immigration proceedings, as the Salvadoran immigrant attempts to stave off his second deportation this year.
During a Wednesday hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis also extended her temporary restraining order on Abrego Garcia’s removal until early October, when an evidentiary hearing would be scheduled. She said a decision would be released within 30 days of the hearing.
Abrego Garcia was detained by Baltimore immigration officials on Monday, with the administration initially planning to deport him to Uganda. He arrived in Baltimore after being released from a Tennessee jail on Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes.
A blanket court order halting his deportation had been triggered Monday after his lawyer filed a lawsuit the same day, arguing that he remain in the country until his protection claim could be heard.
Xinis stood by her ruling Tuesday, saying that the Trump administration is “absolutely forbidden to remove Abrego Garcia from the continental United States” until her order expires.
The judge’s current order requires Abrego Garcia to remain in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility 200 miles from Greenbelt, Maryland, where he can talk with his counsel. He is currently being held at a facility in Virginia.
Though the administration admitted in a court filing earlier this year that Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador, the White House has doubled down on its efforts to send him to another country.
“Abrego Garcia is a criminal illegal alien, wife-beater, and an MS-13 gang member facing serious charges of human smuggling. He will face justice for his crimes,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Friday in a statement to NBC News.
Abrego Garcia has denied any involvement with MS-13.