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New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Rulings Order Abrego Garcia's Release and Guard Against Hasty Deportation
A federal judge in Tennessee said on Wednesday that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant wrongfully deported to El Salvador, should be freed from custody in his criminal case even as a judge in Maryland issued a separate order protecting him from being hastily expelled from the country again. The convergence of the two judicial rulings, which came within minutes of each other, meant that Mr. Abrego Garcia could soon return to Maryland, where he had been living with his family before his monthslong ordeal of arrest, deportation and imprisonment in El Salvador began in March. For the past few weeks, deep uncertainty has loomed over Mr. Abrego Garcia's future as the Justice Department signaled that it intended to begin immediate efforts to re-deport him if he were released from custody in his criminal case, which was used in early June to bring him back from his wrongful removal to El Salvador. Prosecutors charged him in Federal District Court in Nashville with taking part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants across the United States as a member of the violent transnational street gang MS-13. But in his order releasing Mr. Abrego Garcia, Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., who is overseeing the criminal case, cast serious doubts on what he described as the government's 'poor attempts to tie Abrego to MS-13.' Judge Crenshaw noted in particular that there was no evidence that Mr. Abrego Garcia had any 'markings or tattoos showing gang affiliation,' an assertion that directly undercut accusations that officials including President Trump have made. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be released from jail, put under ICE supervision in Baltimore
NASHVILLE − A federal judge in Nashville has ruled Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be released from jail before trial on criminal charges in Tennessee, a decision his attorneys had argued for since he was brought back to the U.S. in June after his illegal deportation in March. Abrego Garcia will not be immediately let out of jail due to a pending motion by his attorneys to delay his release. Meanwhile, a judge in Maryland has ordered Abrego Garcia must be transferred to the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore. If ICE wants to deport Abrego Garcia, it must give him 72 hours notice so he can assert claims of credible fear or seek any other relief, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, wrote. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw issued the Tennessee ruling, which came down July 23. "The Government has failed to show on appeal that this case is one of the 'carefully limited exception[s]' where detention pending trial is justified, entitling Abrego to his liberty in the meantime," Crenshaw wrote. Abrego Garcia's attorneys in Tennessee had recently asked that any order to release him from jail be delayed for 30 days. While they had argued Abego Garcia has a right to be let out of jail, they said government officials planned to apprehend Abrego Garcia and begin deportation proceedings if he was released. Crenshaw opted to leave that decision for Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, who will take over the case and rule on the request for a 30-day delayed release from jail in the future. Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. without authorization around 2011. Immigration authorities issued a final order of removal for Abrego Garcia in 2019, but they said he could not be released to his home country of El Salvador due to credible fears of persecution by gangs in that country. The U.S. deported him to a Salvadoran mega prison in March, prompting a unanimous rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court to bring him back. He was brought back June 6 to face charges of alien smuggling, centering around a 2022 traffic stop in Cookeville, Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Ruben Montoya contributed. Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Abrego Garcia to be released from jail, put under ICE supervision
