Kilmar Abrego Garcia (center) leaves the Putnam County Jail in Cookeville, Tennessee. (Picture credit: AP)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national whose wrongful deportation earlier this year became a flashpoint in US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, was released Friday from a Tennessee jail to rejoin his family in Maryland while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges.Abrego Garcia, 30, was mistakenly deported in March despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that barred his return to El Salvador because of a “well-founded fear” of gang violence. He was sent to a notorious maximum-security prison before being flown back to the US in June under a court order. Within days of his return, he was arrested and charged with transporting undocumented migrants.On Friday, Abrego Garcia walked out of the Putnam County jail dressed in jeans and a white button-down short-sleeved shirt alongside his lawyer, Rascoe Dean. He did not speak to reporters and departed swiftly in a waiting SUV, as per news agency AP. His release order requires him to travel directly to Maryland, where he will live under home detention with his brother designated as custodian, and submit to electronic monitoring. He’ll be able to leave home only for approved activities.Defense attorney Sean Hecker said his client had been “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”, according to news agency AFP. Another attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, noted that Abrego Garcia had been reunited with his family for the first time since March but warned he was “far from safe,” citing the risk of deportation to a third country.The department of homeland security has signalled plans to remove him to an unnamed nation, with options such as Uganda, Mexico, or South Sudan under discussion, news agency Reuters reported. A Maryland judge has ordered that his lawyers be given 72 hours’ notice before any such deportation so they can challenge it.Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges linked to a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop where officers found nine passengers in his car but released him with only a warning. His trial is set for January 2027.Trump administration officials have strongly condemned his release. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem branded him a “monster” and vowed, “We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country”. Deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson also described him as a “criminal illegal alien” and MS-13 member, calling his release an “insult to his victims”.Despite the political firestorm, Abrego Garcia remains under court protection. Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the case underscored the principle that “every person is afforded their right to due process” in the US.
