Kilmar Abrego García will probably be put into custody of immigration and customs compliance due to an immigration arrest that the Government has about it, despite a Tennessee judge on Sunday ordering its release in their criminal case.
This occurs after the Salvadoran native by mistake was brought back to the United States from the Mega Prison of El Salvador earlier this month. Abrego García faces criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the US.
While the United States magistrate, Barbara Holmes, denied Sunday the government’s motion to arrest Abrego García, acknowledged that if she released, “there is no suggestion that the action taken by the government is anything other than stopping it in ice custody pending more removal procedures.”
In his order of 51 pages, Judge Holmes said that the government could not demonstrate that there is a “serious risk” that Abrego García Huya or obstructs justice in the case. Holmes also said that the evidence of the government that Abrego García is a member of MS-13 “consists of general statements, all the double rumors” of cooperating witnesses.
Holmes said that Abrego García “has no criminal record” of any kind and said that his “gang membership reputed” is contradicted by the government’s own evidence that was presented during an audience two weeks ago.
“The court does not find that these circumstances, when considered together, force the determination that Abrego represents a risk of danger to the community or has the propensity and incentive to flee instead of facing the prosecution of this case,” Holmes said.
Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran migrant in this booklet image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025.
Abrego Garcia Family Via Reuters
Tennessee’s judge also seemed unvolved by the testimonies of two cooperating witnesses on which government investigation was based, which were counted by a federal agent at an audience two weeks ago. “Even without ruling out the weight of the testimony of the first and second male cooperator for the multiple layers of rumors, their testimony and statements challenge common sense,” said Holmes.
In his order, Judge Holmes also said that “he is not convinced that the potential sentence faced Abrego if he is convicted as accused is so extraordinary as to force a finding that this case implies a serious risk of flight for the purpose.” Holmes said that 14 human smuggling sentences since 2005, the average sentence was 12 months.
Holmes scheduled an audience for Wednesday to determine the liberation conditions. In response to his order, Robert McGuare, the interim American prosecutor for the Middle District of Tennessee, presented a motion for a suspension of the judge’s liberation order.
Abrego García has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle since he was deported in March to the mega prison of El Salvador, despite a 2019 court order that except for his deportation to that country due to the fear of persecution, after the Trump administration said he was a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, that his family and lawyers denied.
The Trump administration, after arguing for almost two months that he could not bring him back, returned it to the United States, where he faces the accusation of two positions.
