WH Denies Abrego Garcia Will Be Deported Again

The White House has called "fake news" a report that quotes prosecutors saying Kilmar Abrego Garcia would be sent to an unnamed third country.

The Trump administration has included deportations to non-origin countries in its immigration policy, and has obtained permission from the Supreme Court to do so.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, responding to an AP report on what prosecutors said about deporting Abrego Garcia again, posted on X: "This is fake news."

"Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States to face trial for the egregious charges against him," she wrote. "He will face the full force of the American justice system — including serving time in American prison for the crimes he's committed."

Jonathan Guynn, deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ's civil division, told the court on Thursday, per NOTUS, "Our plan is that he will be taken into ICE custody and removal proceedings will be initiated."

"To El Salvador or a third country?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis asked.

"To a third country is my understanding," he responded. Jackson's X post came later.

Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. earlier this month, and the Justice Department was ordered to release him from prison in Tennessee while he awaited trial on charges of human smuggling.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw said on Wednesday that Abrego Garcia is likely to eventually be deported to El Salvador, where he's originally from.

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants in the U.S.

"We have said it for months and it remains true to this day," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Axios.

"Due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future removal operations until they have landed in respective countries," a DHS spokesperson added.

A Justice Department spokesperson also said Abrego Garcia "will not walk free in our country again."

Abrego Garcia's lawyers said they were concerned that the U.S. Marshals Service could release him from Tennessee on Friday and then Immigration and Customs Enforcement would remove him over the weekend.

A motion hearing was set for July 7 on returning Abrego Garcia from Tennessee to Maryland.