BALTIMORE (AP) — A U.S. immigration judge has denied a bid for asylum from Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has become a proxy for the partisan power struggle over immigration policy.
A judge in the Baltimore immigration court denied that application on Wednesday, but that is not the final word. Abrego Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge in 2019 ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.
When he was mistakenly deported there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who opposed President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
