By Maggie Trovato, Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been transferred to a detention center in Central Pennsylvania while he awaits immigration proceedings, according to federal court documents filed by his attorneys Friday.
In a status update, Abrego Garcia’s defense said it was notified Friday that its client was transferred to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, earlier that morning.
The Salvadoran man — who lived in Maryland for more than a decade before he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year — was previously detained at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, who are based in Nashville, Tennessee, and New York, said in the court filing that his detainment in Virginia “placed substantial burdens” on their ability to meet with him and prepare for trial.
His attorneys said a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told them the transfer to the Pennsylvania facility would allow “greater access,” but the attorneys said it was “not yet clear” if that is true.
“Travel to Moshannon is far more difficult for the members of the defense team based in Nashville, and is not appreciably easier for the New York-based members of the defense team, compared to Farmville,” the court filing said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the transfer.
Abrego Garcia’s defense team also expressed concern about the Pennsylvania detention center, citing reports of assaults, “inadequate” medical care, “insufficient” food and a detainee who died by suicide in August. According to an ICE news release, 32-year-old Chinese citizen Chaofeng Ge was pronounced dead Aug. 5 after staff found him hanging and unresponsive in the shower room of his detention pod.
In their court filing, the attorneys said they would update the court “once there is more visibility” into their client’s access to counsel at Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
Earlier this month, ICE attorneys said they intended to send Abrego Garcia to Eswatini in southern Africa. The letter followed Abrego Garcia expressing fear of being deported to Uganda, where the White House said he would be sent after he was detained in August at Baltimore’s ICE office.
A 30-year-old El Salvador native and father of three from Prince George’s County, Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. illegally when he was 16. He has been accused by the federal government of human trafficking and gang membership. He was first detained in a Salvadoran mega-prison for terrorists and later in other jails following the mistaken deportation.
He was returned to the U.S. in June and maintains his innocence, denying any gang affiliation.