An American judge said he provides to order the release of Migrant SalvadoRenho Kilmar Ábrica García, deported by mistake, provided his trial for alleged migrant trafficking is made, in a new setback for President Donald Trump’s government. Abrogo García, 29, was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March and returned by plane to the United States on June 6, due, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi, to a prison order presented to the Salvadoran authorities.
On the return, he was arrested immediately and accused in Nashville, Tennessee, of migrant trafficking in the United States between 2016 and 2025. His case became a symbol of the dispute between the Republican government of Trump and the federal courts.
As García declared himself innocent of the criminal accusations, and a federal judge determined on Sunday that prosecutors did not present arguments that justify their detention while awaiting the trial.
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“The government claims that Abrego is a long-standing and well-known MS-13 member,” a declared global terrorist gang for Washington, says Judge Barbara Holmes in her 51-page decision.
“But Ábrico has no criminal record (…) and the government’s own evidence contradicts its alleged participation in a gang,” he says. He added: “The factors in favor of freedom surpass all other factors in favor of detention.”
The Trump administration stated that a salvadoran who was deported by mistake and then brought back to the US to respond to criminal accusations “will never be free” on American soil, even if a judge ordered his release.
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Holmes acknowledged that even though he or she orders the release of García on a court order for Tuesday, he is likely to be arrested immediately by federal immigration agents. Thus, the court’s verdict is more “an academic exercise”, admitted the judge. “The basis of the administration of our criminal law depends on the basis of due process,” he said, however.
As García lived in Maryland until she became one of 200 migrants sent to an El Salvador prison in March as part of Trump’s offensive against irregular immigration.
On March 15, the US government sent 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador on several flights. Among the envoy were alleged gang members such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13, due to the 1798 foreign enemies law, used since then only in times of war.
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For months, the Trump administration accused as García, married to an American, of being a member of the MS-13, which his family and lawyers deny. García was never convicted of this accusation. The Justice Department’s lawyers acknowledged that Salvadoran was expelled by an “administrative error”.
In 2019, a court permanently revoked the possibility of expeling him to El Salvador.
