The Trump administration has agreed to release from prison a three-time felon who drunkenly fired shots in a Texas community and spare him from deportation in exchange for his cooperation in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego García, according to a review of court records and official testimony.

Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to “deadly conduct” in the Texas incident, and is now the government’s star witness in its case against Abrego.

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Top Justice Department and White House officials, meanwhile, have insisted there is no chance they would remove him from the country before his criminal trial.

Pointing out what they described as those “directly contradictory statements,” Abrego’s lawyers made an unusual request Friday: to keep him in criminal custody until July 16, when a judge has scheduled a hearing to more fully explore the issue. They noted that prosecutors and immigration officials had worked together to secure an indictment against Abrego.

The officials had also worked together to free Hernandez.