Lawyer Of Abrego Garcia Claims His Arrest Was 'To Punish Him' For Fighting Back Against Deportation

Forbes Breaking News

During a vigil and rally for Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Monday, his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg spoke about his recent arrest by ICE.

Transcript

00:00Good morning. My name is Simon Sandoval-Motionberg. I'm a partner at the immigration law firm.

00:06Good morning. My name is Simon Sandoval-Motionberg. I'm a partner at the immigration law firm of Murray

00:14Osorio PLC in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey, and one of the many attorneys in the legal team

00:20that's been representing Kilmar Obrego Garcia. Mr. Obrego Garcia was taken into custody by

00:25ice this morning.

00:55As he was leaving the jail in Tennessee on Friday, he'd been given a notice requiring

01:03him to check in at 8 a.m. this morning. The notice stated that the reason was interview.

01:08Clearly that was false.

01:10There was no need for them to take him into ICE detention. He was already on electronic monitoring

01:20from the U.S. Marshal Service and basically on house arrest. The only reason that they've

01:25chosen to take him into detention is to punish him.

01:27Yes.

01:29To punish him for exercising his constitutional rights. His constitutional right to fight

01:35back against being illegally deported to El Salvador. His constitutional right to speak

01:40up through his court filings on the torture and treatment that he received in El Salvador

01:45at the direct request of our government. His constitutional right not to allow his arm to be twisted

01:51to take a guilty plea if he doesn't want to. His constitutional right to exercise his right

01:56to a jury trial on his criminal proceedings if he so chooses. And his constitutional right

02:01and his right under the Bail Reform Act to leave the prison and come home to his family.

02:05He's being punished for exercising those rights.

02:07We asked the ICE officer what the reason for his detention was. The ICE officer didn't answer.

02:17The ICE officer stated that he'll be taken to a detention center. We asked the ICE officer

02:21which detention center. The ICE officer said that they weren't able to say.

02:25We asked the ICE officer for a copy of any paperwork that's being served on him today.

02:29The ICE officer wouldn't commit to even giving us that paperwork.

02:32In the last five minutes, Mr. Obrego Garcia has filed a new lawsuit in the Federal District Court

02:43for the District of Maryland challenging his current confinement and challenging deportation

02:53to Uganda or to any other country unless and until he's had a fair trial in an immigration court

03:01as well as his full appeal rights. In 2019, Mr. Obrego Garcia had a full trial.

03:10It lasted over two days in this building behind me. And the result of that trial

03:15was that the judge entered an order that he could not be deported to El Salvador.

03:19That order was not even appealed by the government. If they want to deport him to any other country,

03:24they need to go through that exact same process.

03:31Unless and until they have gone through that process, they do not have the right to put him on an airplane.

03:36And that's what we're going to be asking the District Court to ensure.

03:39That he is not put on any flight to any country whatsoever, whether it's Uganda, South Sudan, what have you.

03:47Unless and until he has had a full and fair trial in an immigration court as well as his full appeal rights.

03:54So he's filed a lawsuit seeking to ensure that he is not removed from the United States pending his immigration proceedings.

04:06We'll certainly be advising you as to the progress of that lawsuit. The courthouse isn't even open for the day yet.

04:14But other than that, his family was and he was exceedingly grateful to see the tremendous, tremendous amount of support today

04:26and over the weekend. This is a person who didn't even know that he had anyone looking out for him,

04:33much less the entire nation for the three months that he was detained in El Salvador.

04:38This is a person who, you know, feared that the world had forgotten about him.

04:43And so you can imagine how much it filled his heart to learn that not only was it not true

04:48that the world had forgotten about him, but that the whole world was behind him

04:51and was, you know, marching and raising their voices and raising their fists to support him.

04:57Has filled his heart throughout these past months.

05:02Let me repeat that in Spanish.

05:05Let me repeat that in Spanish.

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