Kilmar Abrego Garcia's legal team is so concerned about his deportation, they have asked for a pause on his potential release, and that could undermine the relevance of a Maryland judge's pending ruling on whether to order his return to Maryland. 

Maryland hearings 

Judge Paula Xinis held several days of hearings on the case earlier this month in Greenbelt, Prince George's County, where she chastised Department of Justice lawyers for providing little information on their next steps in the case. 

Abrego Garcia's lawyers have asked her to rule on an emergency petition to stop deportation proceedings for three days if he is released and order the government to return him to Maryland. 

But in a Tennessee human smuggling case, Abrego Garcia's attorneys have asked the judge to take a 30-day pause before releasing their client. 

"Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the court deny the government's motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days to allow Mr. Abrego to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary," they wrote.

"It's hard to think about being in that position where you get dumped in a country where you have no contacts, have no language skills. It's a hard thought, and again, we're going to do everything we can to make sure he gets the due process he didn't receive before," said Benjamin Osorio, a member of Abrego Garcia's legal team. 

The Department of Justice did not object to the 30-day pause.

Return to Maryland?

Abrego Garcia's lawyers have previously argued the only way to right the government's initial wrongful deportation is to mandate his return to Maryland, where he was arrested in March. 

The government has admitted it made an "administrative error" and deported Abrego Garcia to his native El Salvador despite a Maryland court ruling he could not be sent to that country because he faced gang violence there. 

Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his family illegally for more than a decade before his arrest shone a national spotlight on the Trump administration's immigration policies. 

Federal prosecutors have argued that when they returned Abrego Garcia to the United States in June, it rendered the Maryland case moot. 

They have claimed Judge Xinis no longer has jurisdiction. She ruled against them and kept the Maryland case alive. 

The government has continually called Abrego Garcia "dangerous" and said they will not release him. 

In a Maryland hearing earlier this month, the Trump administration said he will be transferred from U.S. Marshals' custody to ICE agents within the Department of Homeland Security. 

The government has fought attempts to release Abrego Garcia to home monitoring in Maryland.

"Given that the entirety of the U.S. government has exercised its entire public relations apparatus to try to tar Mr. Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 member or leader, accusations of which they have provided no evidence, there are many, many countries in which he might well suffer persecution on those grounds," Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said earlier this month. 

He told WJZ, "It's unclear in whatever country he would be sent whether he would be at liberty in that country, or whether he would be incarcerated, and it's unclear whether he would be allowed to remain in any such country or whether that country would simply really deport him onto El Salvador, his country of citizenship."

What's next? 

Both Judge Xinis in Maryland and Judge Waverly Crenshaw, Junior in Tennessee said they will rule soon on the respective motions before them. 

Last week, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, told WJZ, "I'm very glad Judge Xinis is trying to hold the administration's feet to the fire in the sense that she is trying to make sure that they uphold the law. That has been our goal all along."

Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has been flanked by supporters from Maryland, including the advocacy group CASA, at court appearances in both states. 

She issued this message through CASA at the last Maryland hearing: 

"I want to start by thanking everyone for the immense support today and also for everyone who has supported us from day one in this fight," Vazquez Sura said. "Our family is extremely grateful for all that you do for us. The support is amazing. We will forever be thankful to each and every one supporting us as we continue with our faith high until Kilmar returns home to his children."

Abrego Garcia's criminal trial in Tennessee is set for January.