"While U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes' on Sunday denied the government's motion to detain Abrego Garcia, she acknowledged that if released, 'there is no suggestion that the action taken by the government will be anything other than detaining him in ICE custody pending further removal proceedings.' In her 51-page order, Judge Holmes said the government failed to prove there is a 'serious risk' that Abrego Garcia will flee or that he will obstruct justice in the case. Holmes also said the government's evidence that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 'consists of general statements, all double hearsay' from cooperating witnesses. Holmes said Abrego Garcia 'has no criminal history' of any kind and said that his 'reputed gang membership' is contradicted by the government's own evidence that was presented during a hearing two weeks ago.... 'Even without discounting the weight of the testimony of the first and second male cooperators for the multiple layers of hearsay, their testimony and statements defy common sense,' Holmes said...."
ABC News reports.
The ABC headline seems designed to cause a hasty reader to think ICE would be violating the judge's order: "ICE will likely detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia despite judge's motion to have him released."
The judge didn't make a motion. The judge denied the government's motion but, as you see above, said "there is no suggestion that the action taken by the government will be anything other than detaining him in ICE custody pending further removal proceedings."
And weren't there also earlier versions of this story that made people think the judge was requiring the government to set Abrego Garcia free? Yes,
here.
Posts
49 comments:
No Kings. But Magistrates? Oh yes.
ABCNews' headline is a calculated attempt to fool readers into believing that the government will VIOLATE this judges order thus creating the necessary "constitutional crisis" to attack Trump.
The ink on ABCNews' $16 million payment to Trump for its libel of him isn't even dry yet.
" government's evidence that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 'consists of general statements, all double hearsay'"
just to be clear?
isn't this the guy, that was GOING to be deported?
but said that IF he was deported, rival gangs would kill him in prison;
since he was a MS-13?
isn't THAT this guy?
Isn't THE ONLY REASON he was still in our country,
that *HE* said he was MS13?
just checking
It seems to me that the government may have difficulty proving the man committed the crimes he's charged with, but it will still go forward with deporting him for being in the country illegally. And he will remain in ICE custody until that happens. The courts were enforcing procedure, but in the end, the government has the power to deport him. But too many people benefit from or desire drama and obfuscation.
Maybe judges shouldn't write 51-page opinions, but I think this was a case of people who couldn't even successfully read page 1 plus page 51. Or if they could, they didn't want to report it straight.
Yes, I long for the day before word processors where judicial opinions were short, concise and often fun to read.
I walked by a TV where ABC was interrupting regular programming to talk about this guy like he was an imprisoned Mandela being freed or something. Clearly the cabal gave them their assignment…
“Tennessee judge” sounds more conservative then “Obama appointee” to the federal bench?
Gilbar, yes. He was ordered to deport but was allowed to stay because a judge decided the government couldn’t deport him to his country of origin. Short of a deal by a third party country to accept him, it would then be impossible to deport him. Why he was ordered deported, because he has a criminal history in the US.
I agree with Althouse. This particular case may be difficult to prove. But that he is (was) here illegally and has a criminal history seems clear, as well as his gang membership.
"...he is (was) here illegally and has a criminal history seems clear..."
Just give the MSM a few hours to further muddy the waters.
she acknowledged that if released, 'there is no suggestion that the action taken by the government will be anything other than detaining him in ICE custody pending further removal proceedings
Beyond the headline, the story itself was hard to follow. I had to read the above sentence a couple times to understand that she wasn't accusing the government of intending to violate her order.
And the alphabet networks wonder why no one believes them anymore…
California Gov Newsom did something similar when he lost the court battle with Trump over the control of the Nat Guard. He declared victory in such a way that if you’re not carefully reading the court opinion you would think Newsom won in court, when the reality is that the court unanimously turned him down. The headline got me to comment here that it was good for Trump to lose, so that the riots could not be blamed on the president.
"The ABC headline seems designed to cause a hasty reader to think ICE would be violating the judge's order..."
Well, yeah. It's legacy media. If they weren't trying to spin things against Trump that would be a story.
A FIFTY-ONE page order? Why 51 pages?
... if they could, they didn't want to report it straight.
That one.
ABCNews reported, multiple times, that Donald Trump was a convicted rapist. That of course was false, and their own lawyers advised them NOT to say that. But they did anyway.
So of course, Trump sued them. The case didn't even reach a jury because ABCNews just admitted everything and wrote Donald Trump a check for $16 million dollars.
That is one of the highest libel claim victories in all of written law.
Trump should just fly this dude to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and fuck the courts.
"Holmes said Abrego Garcia 'has no criminal history' of any kind and said that his 'reputed gang membership' is contradicted by the government's own evidence that was presented during a hearing two weeks ago...."
Ahem:
DHS Releases Bombshell Investigative Report on Kilmar Abrego Garcia Suspected Human Trafficking Incident
"On Dec. 1, 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. Upon approach to the vehicle, the encountering officer noted eight other individuals in the vehicle. There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. Additionally, all the passengers gave the same home address as the subject's home address. During the interview, Abrego Garcia pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions. When asked what relationship he had with the registered owner of the vehicle, Abrego Garcia replied that the owner of the vehicle is his boss, and that he worked in construction.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker. The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking. The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”
The encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver's license. Abrego Garcia’s driver's license was a MD "Limited Term Temporary” license. The encountering officer gathered names of other occupants in the vehicle but could not read their handwriting. The officer did not pursue further information due to no citation being issued.
In 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit validated Abrego Garcia as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Gang."
Set him free. Let him run for mayor of New York.
They didn't tell us who gave us this judge.
51 pages?
Now lets do this process for each one of the illegals in the country!
And we're not even close to the end with this guy!
Peachy said...
" They didn't tell us who gave us this judge."
from her bio:
"Judge Holmes was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge in August 2015"
https://www.tnmd.uscourts.gov/sites/tnmd/files/Holmes%20practices%20and%20procedures%20%282%29.PDF
so, Blame TRUMP!
(sure, O'Bama was Pres in 2015.. but Still: Blame TRUMP!)
Althouse is spot on with her assessment. A great deal of what is currently being said in and by the media is aimed at bucking up the Democrat side.
American leftist Soviet media march on... for their party.
Fun fact of the day:
Magistrate Federal Judges are not federally appointed
"Yes, I long for the day before word processors where judicial opinions were short, concise and often fun to read."
But now you can feed the long opinion into AI and ask for a rewrite that's short, concise and often fun to read... or whatever you want. I'd ask for plain, clear, standard English without repetition or unnecessary verbiage and as short as it can be without making it harder to understand. And put all the citations in footnotes that I have to click on to display.
Long ago I got frustrated reading scholarly articles that I had to work hard to understand. I decided if I had to do that work and the idea derived from MY work wasn't worth the work I'd done, I would stop reading the article. Saved a lot of time.
DoJ Documents on Abrego from 2019. I could argue that this is allegation, but it has more validity than the Steele Dossier. It actually includes arrest records and the Abrego admitting to being in the country illegally.
Democrats have turned into the party of Wannabe Theatre Kidz. Everything is performative. But none of their skills are useful for governing, or improving on civilization. Or even entertaining.
Well enjoy the time you spend at trial Garcia because once it's over your ass is outta here and never ever coming back. Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Somewhere the shade of a club footed German is smiling.
When I clerked for a federal judge the longest opinions I (we) wrote were usually 10-12 pages. Judges who operate within proper boundaries don’t require reams of paper to justify themselves. 51 pages on a release decision? Talk about full of yourself!
Here's the immigration ruling from 2019.
Lot of interesting things in it. For instance, Garcia didn't apply for asylum when he came to the US in 2012. He applied after being apprehended in 2019. He doesn't have asylum. He granted a stay from removal. It gets confusing because Garcia's family moved from El Salvador to Guatemala, but apparently the order prevents deportation to either. Why? Because Garcia claims to have been threatened more than once with death, and now DHS is required to disprove it? The Due Process here is that the United States must prove a negative that Garcia wouldn't be hurt for not joining the Barrio 18 gang, which he claims tried to recruit him prior to 2012. BTW, Barrio 18 is a street gang formed in LA. Also, El Salvador's President began his crackdown on street gangs in 2022 with CECOT opening in 2023. I think Garcia will be safe there, and I offer as evidence the decline in homicide rates. As point of comparison, Maryland had over twice as many homicides as El Salvador and an equivalent population size of 6.3 million in 2024.
Apparently the charges have not been dropped. Simply, like most other persons accused of these crimes, he is not being denied bail.
As I have asked elsewhere, without response, has bail been set, or is he released without bail.
Admit I did not read the 51 page decision.
Lelands comment explaining the "reason" for seeking asylum sounds like something a typical immigration lawyer would come up with. I imagine there are many thousands of asylum seekers using exact same argument.
The magistrate judge should read Bryan Garner on legal writing.
“It seems to me that the government may have difficulty proving the man committed the crimes he's charged with, but it will still go forward with deporting him for being in the country illegally. And he will remain in ICE custody until that happens.”
You are forgetting that the MD District Court judge has ordered the government to produce him in court there, presumably so that he can be released. Now they have no excuse - first that he was in El Salvador, in control of their government, and secondly that he was in criminal custody in a different state.
He is still undeportable, having Withheld Removal status. That he no longer qualifies for. But that requires an Immigration Court decision, and that takes time and process. And because he still has that status, ICE is probably not going to keep him in custody.
The lady (judge) doth protest too much, me thinks.
I had a bit of a problem with the html coding, but finally got it sorted.
Still working off the "attack the MSM" template like it was 1995. Those truly interested in the story can figure it out pretty easily.
If it's even partially true, requiring to twist your lips just so, but matches the Orange Man Bad narrative... it's Journalism True.
Garcia is an illegal alien subject to an order of removal and so ICE can detain him indefinitely until they deport him. Which they can do today to any country in the world except El Salvador. And, if DOJ had the brains that God gave sand, they would be asking the immigration court to revisit and overrule its prior order barring deportation to El Salvador.
Hmmm,
" Holmes will hold a separate hearing to determine the conditions of Garcia's release."
So, is the guy out, or still in?
"Was Kilmar Abrego Garcia a union member?
UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 stands in solidarity with Kilmar Abrego Garcia – a union member of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Local 100 –"
Surprised
Other than being caught in the presence of MS13 members, wearing MS13 symbols like the black Chicago Bulls hat shown in the photos of him, and the testimony of others, there's no evidence he's MS13.
There are two issues for Garcia - the human smuggling criminal case which was the topic of the release order (pending a hearing), and the immigration case which was acknowledge by the Magistrate as a valid reason for his continued detention.
I saw the police report, which said that he was in the company of 3 guys who were in fact MS-13 gang members. I understand that per the 5th Amendment he doesn't have to answer the question, but the question asks itself. What was he doing with the gang-bangers?
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.