Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the 30-year-old Salvadoran national at the center of a federal human smuggling case, has been transferred to a Pennsylvania detention center, his attorneys confirmed Friday in a filing to a federal judge in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia was previously held at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia. According to court documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) informed his legal team that he had been moved to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday morning. ICE officials told his lawyers that the transfer would “allow Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s legal team greater access to him.” His attorneys, however, expressed doubts, stating, “It is not yet clear whether that is true.”
The filing explained why a motion had not yet been submitted in response to a September 22 court order directing Abrego Garcia’s counsel to formally outline difficulties meeting with him while detained at Farmville. His attorneys noted that travel to Moshannon is in fact more complicated for their Nashville-based team and offers no advantage for counsel in New York.
“Conditions at Moshannon are also deeply concerning,” the attorneys added, citing a detainee’s death by hanging in August, along with reports of assaults, inadequate medical care, and poor food quality at the facility. They told Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. that they would provide an update once they had more clarity on Abrego Garcia’s ability to access counsel and prepare for trial at the new location.
Abrego Garcia’s detention journey has already been marked by controversy. In March, he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, where he was held for months in a notorious prison before being returned to the U.S. in June to face federal charges. On September 19, his lawyers filed a status report detailing how the Farmville facility placed “substantial burdens on the defense’s ability to meet” with him, prompting the court’s directive three days later for a formal motion.
The case against Abrego Garcia involves allegations of large-scale human smuggling. Federal prosecutors charged him with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. The indictment alleges that he and co-conspirators “knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands” of migrants not legally authorized to live or work in the U.S. Prosecutors also claim that many of those transported had ties to the MS-13 gang and associates, a claim his family has strongly denied.
The charges stem from a November 2022 incident when Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. According to court records, he was transporting at least eight individuals in his car at the time. Abrego Garcia reportedly told officers that the passengers had been working construction jobs at a site in St. Louis, Missouri.
Despite the government’s allegations, Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is currently awaiting trial, with his defense team pressing the court to recognize the challenges they face in accessing their client under ICE custody. The latest transfer to Moshannon Valley now raises new questions about both his legal access and the conditions under which he is being held.
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