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(NewsNation) — Lawyers on Tuesday are expected to create a timeline for proceedings in the latest deportation efforts against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador earlier this year.
When he was detained Monday during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Baltimore, the 72-hour countdown began for Abrego Garcia's potential deportation to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia filed a new lawsuit in the state’s federal district court shortly after he was detained. Later that same day, Judge Paula Xinis said she would issue an order to keep him in the country while she reviewed the challenge.
He will remain in the custody of U.S. Marshals as lawyers for him and the U.S. Justice Department argue whether he will be deported upon his release from federal custody.
Another hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for Friday, though exact details are not yet known.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from jail
Abrego Garcia's detainment — and his team's effort to challenge it — is far from his first.
The Maryland father returned to the United States in June after his mistaken deportation to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison in March — a violation of a court order preventing him from being returned to his home country.
The Trump administration resisted initial legal orders to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., but he was eventually returned and is now facing federal charges for human smuggling.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, accompanied by his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, looks up after a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Aug. 25, 2025, in Baltimore. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
This courtroom sketch depicts Kilmar Abrego Garcia sitting in court during his detention hearing on June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (Diego Fishburn via AP)
Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia rally outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., where a hearing was scheduled to be held on returning him to Maryland on July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
He remained in a Tennessee jail until last week, when a judge ordered his release.
Days later, Abrego Garcia is once again in federal custody and awaiting news about his future.
Naresh Gehi, founder and principal attorney at Gehi and Associates in New York, told NewsNation the back-to-back detainments are meant to wear Abrego Garcia down.
"This is what the government typically does — they will try to keep him in jail as much as possible just to basically break his spirit and to make sure he gives up,” Gehi said. “It’s a test of patience.”
NewsNation's Anna Kutz, Jeff Arnold, Jordan Perkins and Steph Whiteside contributed to this report.
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