Judge denies government attempt to keep Abrego Garcia in detention; due to this Shocking Reasons

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old man from El Salvador, has been at the center of a legal and political controversy tied to former President Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration.

A federal judge in Tennessee recently decided that Abrego Garcia should not stay in jail while he waits for his trial, despite the U.S. government asking that he remain behind bars. The judge, Barbara Holmes, ruled that he must be released and scheduled a hearing for June 25 to figure out the exact terms of that release.

Abrego Garcia first came into the national spotlight after a serious mistake by immigration officials. Back in March, the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador, even though a court had specifically ordered that he not be removed from the United States.

The deportation should never have happened. Government lawyers admitted it was an “administrative error.” Before that mistake, Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland for ten years. He worked as a sheet metal laborer and was raising his three children in the U.S. He had no previous convictions that made him ineligible to stay, and he was still going through the proper legal process to resolve his immigration status.

After his wrongful deportation, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the government to correct its mistake and bring him back to the U.S. The Supreme Court agreed with that decision. Still, officials delayed his return for weeks, only bringing him back after a grand jury charged him in May with human smuggling. His case became a symbol in the wider fight over how the U.S. handles immigration enforcement, especially under Trump’s leadership.

Prosecutors now accuse Abrego Garcia of being part of a long-running operation to smuggle people into the United States. They say that from 2016 through 2025, he and others worked together to bring undocumented migrants from countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, and others. The route often involved crossing through Mexico and entering the U.S. at the Texas border. According to the government, Abrego Garcia’s role was to transport these individuals once they were already in the U.S., usually picking them up in the Houston area and moving them to different destinations.

The charges against him are linked to a traffic stop in Tennessee in 2022. Police pulled him over for speeding on Interstate 40, about 80 miles east of Nashville. He was driving a Chevrolet Suburban with nine other people inside. Officers questioned everyone during the stop but didn’t arrest anyone or file any charges at the time. Later, however, federal investigators looked deeper into the case and believed that Abrego Garcia was helping smuggle people.

Federal prosecutors claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the dangerous gang MS-13. They argued that he could be a danger to the community, possibly fleeing or threatening witnesses if he were let out of jail. But Abrego Garcia has denied any gang involvement and said the government has no proof of that claim. He also argued that the charges against him aren’t enough to justify keeping him locked up before trial.

Despite the government’s efforts to keep him in custody, the judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to hold him, especially since he hasn’t been found guilty yet and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

If he is convicted, though, he could face serious consequences—up to 10 years in prison for each person he is accused of helping bring into the country. Prosecutors believe he may have made over 100 trips transporting people, which means the potential prison time could be very long.

Even after the courts ordered his return, the Trump administration resisted bringing him back, insisting they had no legal power to do so. But after the indictment was issued, the government finally arranged for him to return to the U.S. so he could face the charges. Now that he’s back, the focus is on ensuring a fair legal process, while the case continues to raise questions about how immigration enforcement decisions are made and how errors like his wrongful deportation can happen—and what consequences they bring.