Washington — A federal judge on Wednesday barred federal immigration authorities from immediately taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into custody once he is released from criminal confinement in Tennessee and ordered the Trump administration to provide him 72 hours’ notice if it plans to initiate proceedings to remove him to a country that is not his place of origin.
The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis was issued as a federal judge in Tennessee, who is presiding over Abrego Garcia’s criminal case, ruled that the Salvadoran national should be released from the custody of federal law enforcement under conditions that will be set by a magistrate judge.
The Tennessee judge, Waverly Crenshaw, denied the Justice Department’s request to revoke the magistrate judge’s order allowing Abrego Garcia to be released while awaiting a criminal trial, writing that the government “failed to carry its burden of showing that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure Abrego’s appearance or the safety of others.”
Abrego Garcia was charged with two criminal counts of human smuggling last month and has pleaded not guilty. While the magistrate judge said he should be released from the custody of U.S. Marshals ahead of a trial, set to begin in January, the order raised questions about whether Abrego Garcia would then be swiftly detained by federal immigration authorities and deported.
In addition to blocking Trump administration officials from taking Abrego Garcia into custody after he is released in Tennessee, Xinis ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore an order of supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to its Baltimore field office and that Abrego Garcia should be returned to Maryland, where he lives with his family.
This is a developing story and will be updated
Trump reacts to DOJ reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer on Jeffrey Epstein files