Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s family members — brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and mother Cecilia de Abrego Garcia — leave Nashville’s Fred D. Thompson Federal Courthouse on June 13. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
A federal magistrate judge in Nashville has denied the government’s motion to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant living in Maryland who was wrongfully sent to a Salvadoran prison by U.S. immigration officials.
Federal prosecutors immediately filed notice they intend to appeal the decision. Both the decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes and the notice of appeal were filed Sunday.
In denying the government’s motion to keep Abrego detained, Holmes acknowledged that if he is released he will likely be taken into custody immediately by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nevertheless, Holmes ruling said “due process demands that every person charged with a federal crime be afforded a presumption of innocence unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and that deprivation of an individual’s liberty prior to trial can occur only in carefully limited circumstances with all the procedural safeguards afforded by the Bail Reform Act.”
“Abrego, like every person arrested on federal criminal charges, is entitled to a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial. The Court will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed.”
Abrego, who has previously been referred to in the government’s legal filings as “Abrego Garcia,” informed the court he goes by “Abrego” as his last name.
The judge set a June 25 court date to review the conditions for Abrego’s release.
Abrego was brought to Nashville from El Salvador on June 6 to face human smuggling charges connected to a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop. He was pulled over for speeding with nine Hispanic men in the back of a Chevrolet Suburban. He was neither arrested nor charged in the incident.
But a recent Department of Homeland Security investigation opened into the three-year-old stop gave rise to the charges he now faces.
Abrego entered “not guilty” pleas to the charges in an appearance in federal court on June 13.
Prosecutors argued that Abrego should be detained because his crimes involved minor victims, he is a flight risk and could potentially intimidate witnesses. Abrego is not charged with any crimes related to child victims.
Holmes dismissed federal prosecutors’ arguments that Abrego’s alleged illegal transport of immigrants from Texas to destinations around the country for payment involved a teenager as lacking clear evidence.
Some photos and body camera footage from the 2022 traffic stop are no longer available, Holmes notes, and much of the government’s case is build on second- and third-person hearsay.
Two of the witnesses cooperating with the government are members of the smuggling organization Abrego is accused of being part of: One received early release from a federal smuggling conviction and expects to get a work permit in exchange for his testimony, the other currently faces federal charges but hopes to be released, and has requested deportation deferral, in exchange for his testimony, Holmes said.
A third witness is closely related to the first two, and has requested deportation deferral in exchange for her cooperation. Her family is affiliated with a separate gang, the 18th Street or 18 Barrio gang, Holmes’ ruling says.
Holmes also questioned the government’s claims that Abrego is a member of the MS-13 gang, which she said “consists of general statements, all double hearsay,” from two of the cooperating witnesses. One said Abrego was “familial” with purported gang members and the other said she “believed” he was in the gang.
Those statements were countered by the third witness who “specifically repudiates” any suggestion that Abrego was a gang member, saying that “in ten years of acquaintance with Abrego, there were no signs or markings, including tattoos, indicating that Abrego is an MS-13 member.” Evidence that Abrego is a member of MS-13 is “simply insufficient,” Holmes wrote.
Abrego’s deportation to a notorious Salvadoran prison that U.S. officials acknowledged was in error then refused to return him, has sparked national scrutiny of Trump administration immigration crackdowns.
– This article first appeared in the Tennessee Lookout, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX