Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release before trial
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Judge’s order doesn’t mean Kilmar Abrego Garcia will go free
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is accused of smuggling hundreds of people living in the U.S. illegally, including children and members of the violent MS-13 gang. He pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador after the fact. On Sunday, a federal judge in Tennessee plans to order the release of the construction worker while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But he’s not expected to go free because U.s. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him. The government has already filed a motion to appeal the judge’s decision and is asking the judge to stay her impending release order. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the conditions of his release. No date has been set for the trial. The investigation was launched weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate his return from El Salvador amid mounting public pressure. A 2019 immigration judge’s order prevents him from being deported to El Salvador because he faces a credible threat from gangs there.
Advertisement Judge in Tennessee plans to order release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but he’s not expected to go free Editorial Standards ⓘ
A federal judge in Tennessee plans to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But Abrego Garcia is not expected to go free because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him. In a ruling on Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the U.S. government’s motion to keep Abrego Garcia in detention before his trial. She scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to discuss the conditions of his release. The U.S. government has already filed a motion to appeal the judge’s decision and is asking the judge to stay her impending release order. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty on June 13 to smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify his mistaken deportation in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador after the fact. That hearing was the first chance the Maryland construction worker had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration’s allegations.Video above: Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guiltyThe smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Although officers suspected possible smuggling, he was allowed to go on his way with only a warning. A federal indictment accuses Abrego Garcia of smuggling throughout the U.S. hundreds of people living in the country illegally, including children and members of the violent MS-13 gang. The investigation was launched weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate his return from El Salvador amid mounting public pressure. Holmes acknowledged in her ruling Sunday that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is “little more than an academic exercise” because ICE will likely detain him. But the judge wrote that the government failed to prove that Abrego was a flight risk, that he posed a danger to the community or that he would interfere with proceedings if released.”Overall, the court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego’s release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community,” the judge wrote. The acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Rob McGuire, argued on June 13 that the likely attempt by ICE to try to deport him was one reason to keep him in jail.The judge suggested then that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security could work out between themselves whether the government’s priority is to try him on the criminal charges or deport him. No date has been set for the trial.A 2019 immigration judge’s order prevents Abrego Garcia from being deported to his native El Salvador because he faces a credible threat from gangs there, according to Will Allensworth, an assistant federal public defender representing Abrego Garcia. The government could deport him to a third country, but immigration officials would first be required to show that third country was willing to keep him and not simply deport him back to El Salvador, Allensworth said.At the detention hearing, McGuire said cooperating witnesses have accused Abrego Garcia of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing the women he transported, among other claims. Although he is not charged with such crimes, McGuire said they showed Abrego Garcia to be a dangerous person who should remain in jail pretrial.Most people in ICE custody who are facing criminal charges are not kept in the U.S. for trial but deported, according to Ohio State University law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández. The government would not need a conviction to deport Abrego Garcia because he came to the U.S. illegally.However an immigration judge rules, the decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, García Hernández said. And the board’s ruling can then be contested in a federal appeals court.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia latest: Judge orders release before trial; ICE plans to detain him
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes found the DOJ failed to prove Kilmar Abrego Garcia would be a flight risk. Holmes determined there are conditions of release that can ensure the public’s safety. The case has been a major flashpoint over the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdowns. A criminal defense attorney believes the federal charges are a sham to make up for the DOJ’s actions but also tells FOX 5, it’s hard to overturn a trial judge’s decision. “The government fundamentally doesn’t fundamentally believe that people who are here illegally have the same fundamental rights under the Constitution, and that’s fundamentally wrong,” attorney says of the government’s actions in the case, which will likely go to the Supreme Court in the future, he adds. “You’re going to see a lot of money put behind legal fees, if you will, or him having the best legal services,” attorney adds.
What we know:
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes found the DOJ failed to prove Abrego Garcia would be a flight risk, that the charges against him include a minor victim and that he would obstruct proceedings. Holmes determined there are conditions of release that can ensure the public’s safety.
Dig deeper:
That does not mean Abrego Garcia will be a free man again. The Magistrate Judge also acknowledged in her opinion that once released, he’d likely be taken into custody by ICE.
Holmes made a point to clarify the difference between the words “smuggling” and “trafficking” being used interchangeably in arguments accusing Abrego Garcia of federal smuggling charges.
“Human trafficking and human smuggling are often confused. The two crimes are very different, and it is critical to understand the difference between the two. Human trafficking involves exploiting men, women, or children for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Holmes included in her opinion. She also wrote: “The Court will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed.”
Criminal Defense Attorney A. Scott Bolden believes the federal charges are a sham to make up for the DOJ’s actions but also tells FOX 5, politics aside, it’s hard to overturn a trial judge’s decision. He also noted separately, the Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s immigration case can proceed — and that there are special interests involved on both sides as the system is being tested.
“You’re going to see a lot of money put behind legal fees, if you will, or him having the best legal services, that this case will probably go back to the Supreme Court because it’s so important to the government’s ability to expand its Executive Branch’s duties and powers if they can. And it’s so important to the immigration defense councils that he get his due process,” Bolden said, “After all that’s exhausted, if he’s going to be deported, then he’s going to be deported, but the process — the due process has got to be had and that’s really what this case is about.”
“The government fundamentally doesn’t fundamentally believe that people who are here illegally have the same fundamental rights under the Constitution, and that’s fundamentally wrong,” Bolden continued.
Read Holmes’ full opinion below.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
The backstory:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported in March from Maryland to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The case has been a major flashpoint over the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdowns.
He is not a US citizen, but a DOJ attorney did admit he was removed in error. About six years ago, the federal government admitted an immigration judge had previously granted Abrego Garcia deportation protection.
It’s been a battle the Trump Administration, the judiciary and Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to have the Maryland father and husband returned.
Trump Administration officials accused Abrego Garcia of being a MS-13 gang member and a violent person.
It was discovered his wife had previously sought two protection orders against him, alleging Abrego Garcia physically abused her. However, he was never charged for this, and his wife later spoke to them working things out.
The government did bring Abrego Garcia back earlier this month, doing so with an indictment on federal smuggling charges. The charges are connected to a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop, where Abrego Garcia was suspected of smuggling then but never charged there either.
The DOJ accused the 29-year-old in their indictment of illegally transporting women, children and associates of the violent MS-13 gang since 2016.
Federal Judge Orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Release Before Trial
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly removed from the U.S. earlier this year and imprisoned in El Salvador. A federal judge ruled that he should not be detained pending trial on immigrant smuggling charges. The government has said in court filings that he will be arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents immediately after his release. The judge noted that one of the co-conspirators in the case has previously been deported five times and was released early from a 30-month federal prison sentence for human smuggling in exchange for his cooperation. The case prompted the former chief of the criminal division for the attorney’s office in Nashville to abruptly quit over concerns that it was being pursued for political reasons.
A federal judge ruled that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongly removed from the U.S. earlier this year and imprisoned in El Salvador, should not be detained pending trial on immigrant smuggling charges.
In a sharp rebuke to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Nashville-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes found that prosecutors failed to produce enough plausible evidence that Abrego Garcia posed a danger.
“Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego’s release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community,” Holmes wrote.
Abrego Garcia will likely remain in federal custody despite Holmes’ ruling, as the government has said in court filings that he will be arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents immediately after his release.
Over two months ago, the Trump administration removed Abrego Garcia from the U.S. and transported him to an El Salvadoran prison in violation of a court order. He was held in El Salvador for weeks even after the Supreme Court ordered the government to “facilitate” his return.
Abrego Garcia’s removal sparked outrage across the U.S. amid rising concerns about President Donald Trump’s effort to undermine the right to due process by summarily deporting both legal and nonlegal migrants from the country.
The Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. earlier this month and indicted him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. The evidence against him relies on allegations from five unnamed co-conspirators.
The case prompted the former chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville — the office that is now prosecuting Abrego Garcia — to abruptly quit over concerns that it was being pursued for political reasons.
In her order, Holmes questioned the credibility of the co-conspirators while noting that Abrego Garcia “has no reported criminal history of any kind.” The judge highlighted that several of the co-conspirators in the case secured benefits in exchange for their testimonies in the case against Abrego Garcia.
The judge noted that one of the co-conspirators has two prior felony convictions, has previously been deported five times and was released early from a 30-month federal prison sentence for human smuggling in exchange for his cooperation.
“The Court gives little weight to this hearsay testimony,” Holmes wrote.
The judge ordered federal marshals to produce Abrego Garcia for a hearing Wednesday to review conditions of his release.
Immediately after Holmes’ order, the DOJ filed a stay motion to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama appointee.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia gets boost from judge ahead of trial, but ICE could step in
A federal judge in Tennessee on Sunday denied the Trump administration’s motion to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in detention ahead of his trial. The Maryland husband and father was returned to the US earlier this month and immediately arrested on charges of trafficking undocumented migrants into the country. The government alleges he was part of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.
Supporters hold signs as they gather for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s arraignment and detention hearing in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 13, 2025. © REUTERS
US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has scheduled a hearing Wednesday to discuss the terms of Abrego Garcia’s release, though ICE is then expected to take him into custody and to try to deport him before his trial.
The Trump administration in March illegally deported Abrego Garcia to a notorious El Salvador prison in what it has called an “administrative error.”
The Maryland husband and father was returned to the US earlier this month and immediately arrested on charges of trafficking undocumented migrants into the country, with the government alleging he was part of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which his attorneys have characterized as an attempt by the Trump administration to justify the mistaken deportation.
“The government alleges that Abrego is a long-time, well-known member of MS-13, which the Court would expect to be reflected in a criminal history, perhaps even of the kind of violent crimes and other criminal activity the government describes as typically associated with MS-13gang membership. But Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind,” Holmes wrote.
“The Court does not find that these circumstances, when considered together, compel a determination that Abrego poses a risk of danger to the community or has the proclivity and incentive to flee rather than face prosecution of this case.”
Judge orders release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, ICE detention likely to follow
A federal judge has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he awaits trial. Garcia is accused of smuggling hundreds of undocumented immigrants, including minors and alleged MS-13 gang members. He’s pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys claim the charges are meant to justify his mistaken deportation.
Although a federal judge ruled Sunday that Abrego Garcia could be released as he awaits trial, immigration authorities are expected to step in the moment he walks out of federal custody. That could mean deportation before his case ever goes to trial.
At his last hearing on June 13, prosecutors confirmed ICE would detain Garcia immediately if released. The U.S. government is also appealing the judge’s decision and pushing for an emergency stay ahead of a hearing set for Wednesday to decide the exact conditions of his release.
Garcia is accused of smuggling hundreds of undocumented immigrants, including minors and alleged MS-13 gang members, following a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. He’s pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys claim the charges are meant to justify his mistaken deportation earlier this year to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Despite the serious allegations, the judge found no clear evidence that Garcia is a danger to the community or a flight risk. Still, whether he’ll stay in the U.S. long enough to face trial remains uncertain.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/23/abrego-garcias-release-judge-el-salvador