Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been freed from Putnam County Jail and is on his way to Maryland, his lawyer has confirmed in a written statement.
Garcia’s release comes following U.S. Magistrate Barbara Holmes’ ruling in June that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released from jail while he awaits trial. She concluded that he’s not a flight risk or danger to the community. Her ruling today allows him to leave Tennessee as he awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges. Garcia’s lawyers stated in court filings Tuesday that a private security firm will take him from Tennessee to Maryland when he’s freed.
Garcia’s freedom before trial could be short-lived. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely detain him once he arrives in his adopted state of Maryland and could deport him again. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have said the agency will seek to swiftly detain and begin removal proceedings to a third, as-yet-unidentified country once Abrego Garcia is no longer in the custody of U.S. Marshals.
He has argued against being deported to his home country of El Salvador due to his claimed fear of retribution from rival gangs. Despite his claimed fears of rival gangs, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw upheld his release last month, saying he saw no evidence Abrego Garcia “has ever been affiliated” with MS-13 or any other gang. It is not clear how he could have a fear of “rival gangs” if he is not actually in a gang. Crenshaw was appointed to the federal bench in 2016 by former President Barack Obama. Abrego Garcia first entered the country illegally in 2011.
Last month, a federal judge in Maryland barred ICE from immediately re-arresting Abrego Garcia. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered him returned to the same supervision conditions he was under prior to his deportation in March. She also ordered ICE to provide at least 72 hours’ notice before initiating any new efforts to remove Abrego Garcia from the country. Like Crenshaw, Xinis was appointed to the bench in 2016 by President Barack Obama.
After today’s order releasing him, Garcia’s lawyer Sean Hecker said in a statement:
Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free. He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government’s vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the Administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June to face federal human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. During the stop, which did not result in any charges, Abrego Garcia was found to be driving an SUV with eight passengers, none of whom had identification. Abrego Garcia told Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers he and his passengers had been in St. Louis doing construction work. According to charging documents, investigators believe the vehicle Abrego Garcia was driving had actually been in the Houston area.
The Justice Department has accused Abrego Garcia of being part of a nationwide human smuggling operation that moved firearms, narcotics and undocumented immigrants from Texas to multiple states, including Maryland. He has also been accused of engaging in domestic abuse of his wife on at least two occasions. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/04/30/dhs-reveals-second-domestic-abuse-filing-filed-kilmar-abrego-garcias-wife
Abrego Garcia is scheduled to stand trial on the human trafficking charges in a Tennessee federal court in January. He has denied any association with MS-13 or involvement in a human smuggling ring.
Steve Gill is an attorney and Publisher of TriStar Daily.
