Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release order blocked by Trump administration
Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released, Trump administration blocks order
A magistrate judge ruled Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be released pending trial on human trafficking charges, finding the government failed to prove he’s a danger or flight risk. The government is challenging the ruling, citing an ICE detainer and a past traffic stop involving a minor as evidence, though Garcia’s legal team disputes the claims.
WASHINGTON - Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers came to his defense Monday afternoon as the government fights to keep him behind bars.
What we know:
On Sunday, a federal magistrate judge in Tennessee ruled that Abrego Garcia should be released from prison pending trial on human trafficking charges.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team emphasized that the government could not prove he was a flight risk or a danger to the community in a new court filing Monday. This comes after Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled the government failed to show that Abrego Garcia poses either of those risks.
The other side:
Late last night, the government quickly moved to block her order.
The government argues Abrego Garcia should remain in custody because he’s a danger to the community — and because he could be deported by DHS due to an active ICE detainer.
They point to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where troopers found nine other passengers in an SUV driven by Abrego Garcia. During that stop, a trooper asked passengers to write down their names and birthdates. One listed a birth year of 2007 — which the government says supports their claim he was trafficking a minor.
What they're saying:
Garcia’s legal team disputes both the content and admissibility of that evidence — and Judge Holmes appears to agree.
"The sheer number of hours that would be required to maintain this schedule — which would consistently be more than 120 hours per week of driving time — approach physical impossibility," said Holmes in her opinion.
"The federal judge in this case just simply panned the government’s case — the credibility of their witnesses, the informant’s credibility, and the deals that were done. This case is shaping up as a way for the government to save face, instead of just admitting their mistake and bringing him back," said former prosecutor A. Scott Bolden.
What's next:
The government has moved to block the magistrate judge’s order. They can appeal directly to the district court judge assigned to the case.
As of now, a hearing on Abrego Garcia’s release conditions is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m.
The backstory:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a 29-year-old El Salvadorian national. He fled his home country and came to the U.S. when he was 16. He has since lived in Maryland. He has three children and a wife, Jennifer Vasquez.
On March 12, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Baltimore after working a shift as a sheet metal apprentice and picking up his 5-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house, according to his lawyers.
He was then sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT which activists say is rife with abuses. Three days later, he was deported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they removed him to a Salvadoran prison over a 2019 accusation that he was in the MS-13 gang.
Abrego Garcia's ties to MS-13 were never proven and he has repeatedly denied being a gang member. His lawyers argue that the U.S. government "has never produced an iota of evidence" that he is affiliated with MS-13 or any other street gang.
His eventual expulsion to El Salvador violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded him from deportation to his native country. The judge ruled that Abrego Garcia had credible fears of being killed if he returned to El Salvador.
Abrego-Garcia had no previous criminal record in the U.S. outside of a few traffic violations. He had regularly checked in with immigration authorities.