A federal judge in Tennessee ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador due to an admitted error on the part of the administration before being returned to the United States to face criminal charges.

However, authorities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are expected to detain him immediately upon his release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the Trump administration’s request to hold Abrego Garcia as he awaits trial. He will remain in detention until the conditions of his release can be determined in a hearing on Wednesday. 

The federal government has filed a motion to appeal Holmes’s order.

The judge said the federal government did not prove that Abrego Garcia posed a danger to the community, would interfere with court proceedings, or was a flight risk. “The Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego’s release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community,” her decision read.

However, Holmes also acknowledged that ICE would quickly detain him, and said her order was “little more than an academic exercise.” Holmes wrote, “The sole circumstance about which the government and Abrego may agree in this case is the likelihood that Abrego will remain in custody regardless of the outcome of the issues raised in the government’s motion for detention.”

Rob McGuire, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, argued that the likelihood of Abrego Garcia’s detainment by federal authorities was a reason to keep him in jail.

He cannot be deported to El Salvador because of a 2019 order by an immigration judge that says he faces a threat from gangs there. While Abrego Garcia can be deported to a different country, immigration officials need to show that he would not be returned to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia’s initial deportation in March prompted protests and headlines that referred to him as a “Maryland father.”

Abrego Garcia’s indictment alleges that he was part of a smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the U.S. illegally. Between 2016 and 2025, he and his co-conspirators made 100 trips between Texas and Maryland, according to the indictment.

The charges stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop, when Abrego Garcia was pulled over in Tennessee while driving a vehicle with nine passengers. The indictment says he falsely told officers he was driving construction workers from St. Louis.

Six of the passengers have since been identified as being in the country illegally, while one of them was only 15 at the time of the incident.

Abrego Garcia is also an alleged MS-13 gang member, though he and his attorneys dispute this. He has pleaded not guilty to the human smuggling charges.