Abrego Garcia to return to ICE custody, could be deported before trial

Kilmar Abrego Garcia will soon be back in ICE custody, more than three months since his wrongful deportation to El Salvador.

Homeland Security vehicles parked outside a Nashville federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of Abrego Garcia’s release from jail, but the judge has delayed his official release by a few days.

Federal Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes approved his right to bail while he awaits a trial on human smuggling charges, but she acknowledged that his release would trigger an arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

In Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Holmes asked that the U.S. Department of Justice work with ICE officials to make sure Abrego Garcia can make his court dates, after prosecutors previously said that ICE could deport him before his trial.

“I don’t think we’d be in a position to tell ICE where to house the defendant,” U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire said, stressing that the DOJ and DHS are separate agencies.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to federal human smuggling charges. Prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia has made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year transporting people without legal status for the MS-13 gang.

The 29-year-old father of three arrived back in the U.S. a few weeks ago, more than a month after the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. Federal immigration agents deported Abrego Garcia in March despite a court order that he remain in the U.S. over fears of gang violence in his home country.

The defense has argued that the case against Abrego Garcia is an attempt to justify his wrongful deportation.

In her ruling, Holmes expressed skepticism of the prosecution’s claims that Abrego Garcia made the trip from Maryland to Texas and back multiple times a week, writing that the allegations “approach physical impossibility.”

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop made by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in which state troopers pulled over Abrego Garcia while he was driving nine other men from Texas to Maryland.