Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in custody for now
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in custody for now amid questions over what happens if he’s released
Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in federal custody, at least for a few more days. The Salvadoran migrant faces human smuggling charges. He faces criminal charges under the DOJ but has an immigration detainer under ICE. The case has emerged as a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to execute a historic deportation campaign.“I’m going to try to coordinate with DHS as best I can, but I can’t tell them what to do,” says the acting US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.. The judge says she plans to require “periodic updates to the court” if he is remitted into ICE custody, including letting them know if he’s been deported or released “since it impacts” his case.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain in federal custody, at least for a few more days, amid questions over what would happen if the Salvadoran migrant facing human smuggling charges is released and subsequently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said Wednesday in court that she will file an order that Abrego Garcia should not be detained while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. That order could come as early as Friday.
Holmes, however, also ordered Abrego Garcia’s defense to file an additional brief by noon Thursday to express their concerns as to the extent to which the Justice Department has any control over the Department of Homeland Security in this particular case. He faces criminal charges under the DOJ but has an immigration detainer under ICE. DOJ must respond by noon Friday.
Abrego Garcia appeared at the hearing in shackles, orange prison clothes, blue socks and plastic orange slides to hear the conditions of his release. His wife said at a pre-hearing press conference that Wednesday marks their wedding anniversary.
The case has emerged as a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to execute a historic deportation campaign.
After officials unlawfully sent Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in mid-March, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the administration to facilitate his return stateside, kicking off a protracted legal, political and diplomatic battle in which Trump officials resisted complying with the judge’s directive for months.
In early June, he was finally returned to the US to face a pair of criminal charges: conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the judge expressed her intention to release him and read out her draft release order. Holmes acknowledged she has no jurisdiction to require anything from ICE but she ordered the Justice Department to make its best effort to obtain cooperation from the Department of Homeland Security to allow Abrego Garcia to show up and transport him to court to face the charges against him.
“I understand the court’s order. We’ll do our best to follow it,” said Robert McGuire, acting US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Holmes also said she plans to require “periodic updates to the court” as to Abrego Garcia’s status if he is remitted into ICE custody, including letting them know if he’s been deported or released “since it impacts” his criminal case.
The defense asked for a “good faith request by the US Attorney’s Office” for ICE to keep Abrego Garcia as close as possible to the Middle District of Tennessee and expressed concerns about a violation of his constitutional rights if attorneys can’t meet with him if he’s taken by ICE “outside of Tennessee to places like Texas or Louisiana” and that their ability to prepare for trial “will be limited.”
“I’m going to try to coordinate with DHS as best I can, but I can’t tell them what to do,” said McGuire. “That’s the tension court has identified before but that exists. These are the practical implications of this decision. I don’t think we’ll be in a position to tell DHS where to house him and with respect, I don’t think the court can either.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Judge orders Abrego Garcia released, urges DOJ, DHS to ensure he faces criminal trial
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, faces human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He was deported in March, but a federal judge ordered him returned to the U.S. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A federal judge has ordered his release on his own recognizance. He must undergo anger management counseling and have no contact with MS-13 gang members, the judge says. He could face deportation for a second time if he is not returned to custody soon, she says. The judge says she can’t order ICE to take any particular actions in the case, and the conditions of his release are only enforceable if he’s not in ICE custody. The case has drawn national attention because of President Donald Trump’s border security policies, which are aimed at Mexico and other Central American countries. The White House says the case is an example of why it’s important to enforce immigration laws in the United States, not the other way around, and has called for an end to the practice of deporting illegal immigrants.
On June 25, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia released on his own recognizance.
But Holmes said Abrego Garcia likely faces detention and possible deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She said she can’t order ICE to take any particular action but urged the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security to work together.
NASHVILLE − A federal judge in Tennessee has ordered the release of a Salvadoran migrant at the center of President Donald Trump’s border security policies while he awaits trial on criminal charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes rejected federal prosecutors’ request that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, remain incarcerated but imposed conditions on his release. Abrego Garcia will be released on his own recognizance but must undergo anger management counseling, home detention, location monitoring, drug testing and have no contact with MS-13 gang members, Holmes ruled during a hearing in Nashville on June 25.
Holmes acknowledged that, once released, Abrego Garcia would likely land in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and could face deportation for a second time. Although outside the jurisdiction of her court, Holmes urged the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security to work together to ensure he faces criminal charges in Tennessee.
Holmes said she can’t order ICE to take any particular actions in the case, and the conditions of his release are only enforceable if he is not in ICE custody. “The most I can do is request the U.S. Attorney’s Office to encourage cooperation from Homeland Security,” she said.
Defense attorney Sean Hecker pointed to possible Sixth Amendment concerns if U.S. attorneys and Homeland Security fail to cooperate and ensure that Abrego Garcia is able to attend future hearings. The Sixth Amendment grants rights to people facing criminal prosecution, including the right to a speedy trial, legal counsel and an impartial jury, among others.
For now, Abrego Garcia will remain in jail while lawyers debate where he could be housed and whether the Justice Department can stop him from being deported. Lawyers are expected to file legal briefs by June 27.
A sheet metal worker and father of three who lived for more than a decade in Maryland after entering the country illegally, Abrego Garcia was being held in a prison in El Salvador when a federal grand jury in Nashville indicted him on the human smuggling charges on May 21.
The indictment alleges that, from 2016 through 2025, Abrego Garcia and other unnamed people conspired to bring undocumented migrants into the United States from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and elsewhere.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Abrego Garcia was thrust into the spotlight in March when the Trump administration erroneously deported him to El Salvador, despite an earlier court order that barred the U.S. government from sending him back to his native land. Government attorneys blamed his deportation on an “administrative error.”
A federal judge in Maryland ruled in April the administration had acted illegally in deporting him and ordered officials to return him to the United States. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling and ordered the administration to begin the process of releasing him, but officials resisted bringing him back until he was indicted on the human smuggling charges in May.
Federal prosecutors wanted Abrego Garcia to remain in jail while he awaits trial, arguing that he is a member of the violent gang MS-13, a designated terrorist organization, and could flee or intimidate other witnesses if he is released. Abrego Garcia denies he is a member of the gang and contended the charges don’t justify holding him in jail.
Deportation saga: How a traffic stop exploded into human smuggling charges for Kilmar Abrego Garcia
In a 51-page ruling issued June 22, Holmes said the government had failed to prove that Abrego Garcia was an immediate danger to the community or that, if released, he might not return to court for his trial.
Prosecutors asked Holmes to issue a stay on her release order, noting Abrego Garcia could again face deportation “in the near future.”
But Holmes said the government’s claims that he is a gang member and could intimidate or threaten witnesses are based on vague statements of cooperating witnesses. Those statements were at times conflicting and amounted to hearsay, the judge said.
Given those factors, the government’s evidence that Abrego Garcia is a gang member is “simply insufficient,” she wrote.
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At a news conference before the June 25 hearing, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, noted it was their wedding anniversary and said it has been 106 days since her husband was “abducted” by the Trump administration.
“Instead of celebrating our love surrounded by family, I’m here, but not alone,” Vasquez Sura said, adding she feels embraced by community leaders.
The separation has only strengthened her bond with her husband, she said.
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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/25/politics/abrego-garcia-hearing