Immigration judge denies Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s bid for asylum

BALTIMORE — A U.S. immigration judge on Wednesday denied a bid for asylum from Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has become a proxy for the partisan power struggle over immigration policy.

The judge in the Baltimore immigration court denied 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.

The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the U.S. 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 country for more than a year. However, the judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador, where he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.

When he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and kept in a notorious prison, his case became a rallying point for those who opposed President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Facing a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump’s Republican administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. in June, only to immediately charge him with human smuggling.

While he faces those 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.

Loller writes for the Associated Press. Loller reported from Nashville.