We. Couldn’t. Make. This. Up. If. We. Tried. Damn. Damn. Damn.

Updated, X2: We will hear the Noemites’ response, by noon today [Updated — they actually filed two of them; both are nonsense — but they are linked here, and here]:

…In Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s supplemental submission filed yesterday, counsel advised the Court that, in light of the government’s claims that it lacked control over Mr. Abrego’s whereabouts, counsel in his civil action in the District of Maryland had moved for an order that Mr. Abrego be transported back to his home in Maryland following his impending release from custody in this District. See ECF 60 at 1 n.3. Yesterday, at an emergency hearing before Judge Xinis in the District of Maryland, the government represented that it intends to detain Mr. Abrego and remove him to a “third country” as soon as this Court releases Mr. Abrego from pretrial custody. This is the first time the government has represented, to anyone, that it intended not to deport Mr. Abrego back to El Salvador following a trial on these charges, but to deport him to a third country immediately….

Judge Xinis set a further hearing on that motion on July 7. Hours later, the DOJ told the Associated Press the exact opposite: that it intends to try Mr. Abrego in this District before removing him to a third country. Because DOJ has made directly contradictory statements on this issue in the last 18 hours, and because we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by the DOJ, we respectfully request to delay the issuance of the release order until the July 16 hearing on the government’s motion for revocation. A short delay will prevent the government from removing Mr. Abrego and allow time for the government to provide reliable information concerning its intentions.

The irony of this request is not lost on anyone. After illegally removing Mr. Abrego to El Salvador, the government retrieved him, brought him to this District, and indicted him on baseless charges. Mr. Abrego has spent the last two weeks contesting his unlawful detention under the Bail Reform Act. See ECF 29, 49. In a just world, he would not seek to prolong his detention further. And yet the government — a government that has, at all levels, told the American people that it is bringing Mr. Abrego back home to the United States to face “American justice” — apparently has little interest in actually bringing this case to trial. Instead, it has chosen to bring Mr. Abrego back only to convict him in the court of public opinion, including with respect to allegations found nowhere in the actual charges, while boldly announcing that Mr. Abrego “will not walk free in our country again….”

The government has done so while allowing a cooperator with two felony convictions and five prior deportations to be released from a 30-month sentence for human smuggling to a halfway house, in order to build up a sham of a criminal case against Mr. Abrego. And when Mr. Abrego revealed the weaknesses in that case — securing the pretrial release to which he is entitled — the government threatened to remove him to a third country….

Given these unique and unforeseen circumstances, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests a short delay of the issuance of the release order until July 16….

These are truly… banal, evil people — under Noem, at ICE/DHS. They repeatedly have called the Nashville charges “trafficking” — which they are not; the indictment is… smuggling (essentially giving a ride, without IDs” — with no proof of anyone being under age). They are lying to the press, in order to demonize an accused whose case they have woefully mishandled. Finally, now — they can’t even keep their prior lies / stories straight. Damn. Onward.

नमस्ते

This is a barn-burner. Do read all eight pages — and we will link the US Justice Dept. reply when filed, tomorrow — right here.

As we said, the able USDC Judge is asking for these two briefs, to inform whether he may be released for constitutional violations, despite some stupid ICE administrative rules — which ought not control over violations of the Fourteenth Amendment. And that is what this case is really about: willful, repeat violations of his constitutional rights, at the hands of a malignant government structure. Here it is in full — and a bit:

…In March, the Executive Branch—specifically the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) — unlawfully arrested and renditioned Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (“Mr. Abrego”) to a notorious Salvadoran prison where he was certain to be tortured. A court had previously ruled, however, that Mr. Abrego could not be deported to El Salvador. A lawyer working for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), defending DHS, confessed error, only to be fired for his candor to the court. On April 10, the Supreme Court then ruled in plain language that the Executive Branch had acted unlawfully and ordered it to facilitate Mr. Abrego’s return….

Instead of complying with that order, the government pivoted, delaying Mr. Abrego’s return and working through Joint Task Force Vulcan, including its DOJ and DHS partners, to concoct this criminal case. DOJ and DHS promised extraordinary benefits to undocumented people who had committed crimes to provide evidence, however unreliable, in support of this case. In short order, DHS, working hand in glove with DOJ, retrieved Mr. Abrego from El Salvador to stand trial in this District. This Court evaluated the government’s evidence, such as it is, and found it to be unreliable and certainly insufficient to warrant pretrial detention. ECF 43. Judge Crenshaw agreed that the government was unlikely to show success on the merits of its motion for revocation. ECF 55. The Executive Branch, acting through the DOJ and Task Force Vulcan, now claims to be powerless to ensure that DHS will cooperate with any efforts to protect Mr. Abrego’s rights during the pendency of this case. Such claims strain credulity….

As Judge Crenshaw held yesterday, “the Executive Branch” — not DOJ or DHS in isolation, but the government as a whole — “is in control of where [Mr. Abrego] awaits trial in this case” and “whether to hold him for pending deportation proceedings or not.” ECF 55 at 1. We agree.

As the government’s conduct in this case makes plain, DOJ has the power to coordinate with DHS to ensure that (1) Mr. Abrego is not deported while these charges are pending and (2) he is housed in a facility that allows him to adequately prepare for trial in this case. We welcome the Court’s order that the DOJ — including the Acting United States Attorney in this District, as well as the Directors and Deputy Director of Task Force Vulcan — make “best efforts” to effectuate both of those goals….

At bottom, the government’s claim that it cannot control where Mr. Abrego is detained or whether he is removed from the United States is based on a convenient fiction. DOJ and DHS are part of a single Executive Branch….

Where, as here, DOJ and DHS have acted in concert since this case’s inception, proclaiming with one voice that Mr. Abrego “will never go free on American soil”, the government cannot credibly claim that DOJ is powerless to coordinate with DHS to ensure that Mr. Abrego’s case proceeds without jeopardizing his constitutional rights and the fair administration of justice….

Very well-argued, on paper — just as it was argued yesterday — in open court in Music City. Onward — to tomorrow’s filing. Out.

नमस्ते