The Trump administration plans to deport Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country before he can face trial in Tennessee if he is released from criminal custody, a Justice Department attorney said Monday.

During a federal court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, DOJ attorney Jonathan Guynn told U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that if Abrego Garcia is allowed to walk free before his criminal trial, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not wait for the human smuggling charges against him to be resolved before initiating removal proceedings to a country other than El Salvador.