KIlmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national mistakenly deported but returned to the U.S. to face unrelated charges, was transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Phillipsburg, Pa., according to court records.
Abrego Garcia was transferred on Friday from the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania on Friday, the records show.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had previously said holding Abrego Garcia in the Virginia detention center “placed substantial burdens on the defense’s ability to meet with Mr. Abrego and properly prepare for trial,” and requested the court’s assistance.
An ICE official notified Abrego Garcia’s immigration team on Friday that the former Maryland resident was transferred to the Pennsylvania facility earlier that morning. The official said the transfer “will allow Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s legal team greater access to him.”
Abrego Garcia’s defense team raised some questions as to “whether that is true,” noting certain attorneys are based in New York and in Nashville, Tenn. and will have difficulty reaching their client at the Pennsylvania facility.
The attorneys also said the conditions at the new facility “are also deeply concerning—a detainee died by hanging last month, there have been recent reports of assaults, inadequate medical care, and insufficient food, and the Department of Homeland Security abruptly terminated an internal investigation into allegations of excessive force and abuses by guards at the facility.”
“Nonetheless, the government has asserted that Moshannon will allow defense counsel to bring laptops into the facility and accommodate longer legal visits,” the defense counsel continued.
The attorneys said they would update the court once it becomes clear whether the situation at the new facility is an improvement.
