A Tennessee judge on Sunday ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Trump’s immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But he is not expected to be allowed to go free.
At his June 13 detention hearing, prosecutors said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would take Abrego Garcia into custody if he were released on the criminal charges, and he could be deported before he has a chance to stand trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to discuss the conditions of Abrego Garcia’s release. The U.S. government has already filed a motion to appeal the judge’s release order.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Monday that Abrego Garcia “will never go free on American soil.”
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 everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and “a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial.”
Holmes wrote that the government failed to prove that Abrego Garcia 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 Garcia’s release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community,” the judge wrote.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify the deportation mistake after the fact.
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.
But Holmes said then that she had no intention of “getting in the middle of any ICE hold.”
“If I elect to release Mr. Abrego, I will impose conditions of release, and the U.S. Marshal will release him.” If he is released into ICE custody, that is “above my pay grade,” she said.
The judge suggested 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. {snip}
Will Allensworth, an assistant federal public defender representing Abrego Garcia at the detention hearing, told Holmes that “it’s not necessarily accurate that he would be immediately deported.”
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