GREENBELT, Md. — The U.S. government would initiate deportation proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he’s released from jail before he stands trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, a Justice Department attorney told a federal judge Monday.

The disclosure by Jonathan Guynn contradicts statements by spokespeople for the Justice Department and the White House, who said last month that Abrego Garcia would stand trial and possibly spend time in an American prison before the government moves to deport him.

Guynn made the revelation in a U.S. court hearing in Maryland, where Abrego Garcia’s American wife is suing the Trump administration over his mistaken deportation in March and trying to prevent him from being expelled again.

Guynn said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement would detain Abrego Garcia once he’s released from jail and send him to a “third country” that isn’t his native El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said trying to determine what will happen to Abrego Garcia has been “like trying to nail Jello to a wall.” She scheduled a hearing for Thursday for U.S. officials to explain possible next steps if Abrego Garcia is released.

Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies when he was deported in March to a notorious megaprison in his native El Salvador. The Trump administration claimed that he was in the MS-13 gang, although Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has repeatedly denied the allegation.

When the administration deported Abrego Garcia, it violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded him from being sent to his native country. The judge had determined that Abrego Garcia likely faced persecution by local gangs that terrorized him and his family, prompting him to flee to the U.S.

Facing increasing pressure and a Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last month to face federal charges of human smuggling, which stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee when Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.

Also Monday, the government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the Venezuelan men deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries.

The revelation came in court filings Monday by lawyers for more than 100 migrants seeking to challenge their deportations to El Salvador’s mega-prison.

“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” Salvadoran officials wrote in response to queries from the unit of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The group has been looking into the fate of the men who were sent to El Salvador from the United States in mid-March, even after a U.S. judge had ordered the planes carrying them to be turned around.

The Trump administration has argued that it is powerless to return the men.

LA raid: Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and about 90 members of the California National Guard were deployed for about an hour Monday to a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a large immigrant population. It wasn’t immediately known if any arrests were made.

Defense officials had said the troops and over a dozen military vehicles would help protect immigration officers as they carried out a raid in MacArthur Park.

Gunman killed at border: A man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds Monday at federal agents and a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Texas, injuring a police officer, before authorities shot and killed him.

Authorities identified the shooter as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, believed to be 27, who they said shot at agents exiting the building, which is near the U.S.-Mexico border. McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said Mosqueda had a “utility vest” in addition to the rifle when federal agents returned fire.

Hours before the attack in McAllen, Mosqueda’s father was stopped by Weslaco police around 2:30 a.m. for a traffic violation, according to police. The father told police he was looking for his son, who he said had psychological issues and weapons in his car, police said.

University protest lawsuit: Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration campaign of arresting and deporting faculty and students in pro-Palestinian demonstrations argued Monday that it was an orchestrated effort that’s stifled free speech at U.S. universities.

The lawsuit, filed by several university associations against President Donald Trump and members of his administration, is one of the first to go to trial. Plaintiffs want U.S. District Judge William Young to rule that the policy violates the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act, a law governing the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

“Not since the McCarthy era have immigrants been the target of such intense repression for lawful political speech,” Ramya Krishnan, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told the court in Boston.

Lawyers for the government said no such policy exists.

Another Red Sea attack: A Liberian-flagged cargo ship came under fire Monday in the Red Sea, with two security guards on board reportedly hurt and two others missing in an assault after Yemen’s Houthi rebels purportedly sunk another vessel in a similar attack.

The two attacks and a round of Israeli airstrikes early Monday targeting the rebels raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area.

The attacks come at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible truce in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart talks over its nuclear program following U.S. airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites.

Iconic Haiti hotel burned: Haiti’s once-illustrious Grand Hôtel Oloffson, a beloved Gothic gingerbread home that inspired books, hosted parties and attracted visitors from Mick Jagger to Haitian presidents, was burned down by gangs over the weekend.

Hundreds of Haitians and foreigners mourned the news, with the hotel manager confirming the fire Monday on X. Even though gang violence had forced the hotel in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, to close in recent years, many had hoped it would reopen.

“It birthed so much culture and expression,” said Riva Précil, a Haitian American singer who lived in the hotel from age 5 to 15.