Abrego Garcia Released From Jail Before Trial

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from jail in Tennessee on Friday so he can rejoin his family in Maryland while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges. The Salvadoran national's case became a flashpoint in President Trump's immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported in March, the AP reports. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the US, only to detain him on criminal charges. Although Abrego Garcia was deemed eligible for pretrial release, he remained in jail at the request of his attorneys to keep the administration from trying to immediately deport him. "A measure of justice has been done," a lawyer for Abrego Garcia said Friday, "but the government must stop pursuing actions that would once again separate this family."

Those deportation fears were somewhat allayed by a recent ruling in a separate case that requires immigration officials to allow Abrego Garcia time to mount a challenge to any deportation order. Earlier this week, Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the criminal case, claiming he is being prosecuted to punish him for challenging his removal to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges, which stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. But they let Abrego Garcia drive on with only a warning.

A Department of Homeland Security agent testified he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until April, when the government was facing mounting pressure to return Abrego Garcia to the US. Abrego Garcia, who had been held at the jail in Putnam County, has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the US illegally. In 2019, an immigration judge denied his application for asylum but granted him protection from being deported to El Salvador, where he faces a "well-founded fear" of violence, according to court filings. He was required to check in yearly with Immigration and Customs Enforcement while Homeland Security issued him a work permit. Although Abrego Garcia can't be deported to El Salvador without violating the judge's order, Homeland Security has said it will deport him to an unnamed third country.