(AFP) – A Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported and then returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges should be released pending trial and not be immediately taken into immigration custody, federal judges said Wednesday.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was summarily deported in March along with more than 200 other people to a prison in El Salvador as part of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on migrants. His case has become a key test of Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Most of those sent to El Salvador were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia — a resident of Maryland who is married to a US citizen — was wrongly deported due to an “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.
He was returned to the United States in June and immediately arrested on human smuggling charges in the southern state of Tennessee. Abrego Garcia’s release pending trial has been repeatedly delayed at the request of his lawyers amid fears he would be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported again.
District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia’s release on bail on Wednesday ahead of his January 27 trial date, and a district judge in Maryland simultaneously blocked ICE from immediately taking him into custody. District Judge Paula Xinis said Abrego Garcia should be brought back to Maryland and ordered the administration to provide at least three days notice before attempting to deport him again.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling. “The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can’t arrest (Abrego Garcia)… under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE,” McLaughlin said on X.
It was not immediately clear when Abrego Garcia would be released. Federal prosecutors have opposed his release and warned that he may be deported once again if he is released from custody. Abrego Garcia is charged in Nashville, Tennessee, with smuggling undocumented migrants around the United States between 2016 and 2025. He has pleaded not guilty.
© 2024 AFP
