Abrego Garcia will return to family as he awaits trial over alleged human smuggling brought by Trump administration.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported by the administration of United States President Donald Trump, has been released from a jail in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia was released on Friday and will rejoin his family in Maryland while he awaits the beginning of a trial based on allegations of human smuggling by the Trump administration, according to his lawyer.
The detention of Abrego Garcia, who remained held in an El Salvador prison known for abusive conditions even after the government admitted he had been mistakenly deported, became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s push for mass deportations with little semblance of due process.
The government, faced with a court order, brought Abrego Garcia back to the US in June, despite previously claiming it had no authority to do so. Upon his return, the Trump administration announced criminal charges against him for alleged human smuggling.
Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration previously tried to link to the criminal group MS-13 through disproven claims, has denied the charges. His lawyers have depicted the criminal charges as a form of punishment for speaking out against his wrongful deportation and embarrassing the administration.
While he was previously cleared for pre-trial release from the Tennessee jail, his lawyers requested that he be allowed to remain there out of concern that the government would move to deport him again if he was released.
Those fears have slightly eased after a recent, separate court ruling that said the government must allow Abrego Garcia to challenge a deportation order. His lawyers filed a motion for dismissal of the criminal case, arguing that it is a form of retaliation from the government.
An immigration judge rejected Abrego Garcia’s application for asylum in 2019, but ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador due to a “well-founded fear” of violence in that country.
The Trump administration has said that it will instead seek to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country.
