Judge will order Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release before trial, but ICE
plans to detain him
[June 23, 2025]
By TRAVIS LOLLER and BEN FINLEY
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 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.
The 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.
[to top of second column]
|
Protesters gather outside the Federal Courthouse before arguments
whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia can be released from jail on Friday,
June 13, 2025 in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
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.
___
Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
