A senior Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official on Thursday testified under oath that the agency has not yet decided where Kilmar Abrego Garcia would be deported if he is released from criminal custody next week.

"We don’t work cases not in ICE custody preemptively because our docket officers are worried about the cases they have now,” Thomas Giles, who manages ICE’s 25 field offices across the country, told a federal judge.

Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States last month after being mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March. He has been detained on human smuggling charges since his return, but he could be released ahead of his trial as soon as Wednesday.

A frustrated U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered the government to produce a witness to provide answers about the next steps for the man, as his lawyers push........

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