23-07-2025
Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from criminal custody
Though immigration enforcement officials signaled that he's likely to be re-detained when he arrives in Maryland.
This courtroom sketch depicts Kilmar Abrego Garcia sitting in court during his detention hearing on June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. | Diego Fishburn/AP
By Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney
07/23/2025 03:58 PM EDT
One of the Trump administration's highest-profile deportation targets, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, must be released from criminal custody in Tennessee and returned to Maryland and cannot be immediately redetained by immigration authorities, a pair of federal judges ruled Wednesday.
The rulings are victories for Abrego, a Salvadoran man who entered the U.S. illegally and has lived in Maryland for about a decade. But they may be short-lived: Immigration enforcement officials signaled that he's likely to be re-detained when he arrives in Maryland.
