Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador, then brought back to face smuggling charges, is out of jail.via REUTERS
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By Jennie Taer
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Alleged MS-13 gangbanger and accused human smuggler Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from a Tennessee jail Friday, with private security escorting him back to his family in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia, 30, had been held at the Putnam County Jail since June, when the Trump administration facilitated his return from El Salvador for prosecution on human smuggling charges.
“Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free.
He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being 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 against the Administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law,” his attorney, Sean Hecker, told Fox17.
“He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process,” he added.
The illegal migrant’s attorneys wrote in court filings earlier this week that they had hired a private security company to accompany him from Tennessee to Maryland.
US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes granted his release on Friday while his federal human smuggling case continues.
The smuggling allegations stem from a 2022 traffic stop where he was pulled over on a Tennessee highway with eight passengers in the car, but no luggage. Police in Tennessee had suspected human smuggling, but he was not charged at the time.
He was also previously accused of physically abusing his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen who has been fiercely advocating for his innocence.
Before the alleged gangbanger was brought back to the US, the Trump administration had shipped him off in March with other reputed gang members to El Salvador’s hellhole lockup, CECOT.
The admin admitted Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake under President Trump’s invocation of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, due to an “administrative error” — but maintained he was “confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.”
Abrego Garcia has denied any affiliation with the violent gang.
Last month, a federal judge ordered immigration agents to wait 72 hours after Abrego Garcia’s expected release from custody in Nashville before nabbing and deporting him to a third country, such as Mexico or South Sudan, where he is not originally from.
