The saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia continues. When last we left the sainted Salvadoran, he was returning to the United States — not because of an immigration snafu, but because, it turns out, the “Maryland dad” stood accused of some very serious criminal offenses, including human smuggling.
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Abrego was indicted by a Grand Jury on May 21 in the Middle District of Tennessee on two felony counts:
- Conspiracy to Transport Aliens
- Unlawful Transportation of Undocumented Aliens
The government moved for pretrial detention of Abrego. He was arraigned on June 13th. On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the government’s motion and set a Wednesday hearing to review the conditions of Abrego Garcia’s release.
In her 51-page Memorandum Opinion accompanying her decision, Holmes sets forth the rationale for her decision, essentially finding that Abrego neither poses a serious flight risk nor a serious risk to “obstruct justice or otherwise interfere with the integrity of this proceeding.” In Holmes’ view, “there are conditions of release that can be imposed to reasonably assure the safety of others and the community and to reasonably assure Abrego’s appearance as required.”
It is important to note, however, how she starts out the decision:
Perhaps 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. Either Abrego will remain in the custody of the Attorney General or her designee pending trial if detained under the Bail Reform Act or he will likely remain in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) custody subject to anticipated removal proceedings that are outside the jurisdiction of this Court.
In other words, he’s not going anywhere. Our friend Shipwreckedcrew confirms this take as well:
PLEASE — don’t offer opinions if you don’t know the subject matter.
He was brought back into the country by ICE.
ICE transferred him to the USMS so he could make an appearance in Court on the indictment.
ICE has always had an immigration hold on him.
A judge in the criminal… https://t.co/RRtWgZvYfI
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) June 23, 2025
PLEASE — don’t offer opinions if you don’t know the subject matter.
He was brought back into the country by ICE.
ICE transferred him to the USMS so he could make an appearance in Court on the indictment.
ICE has always had an immigration hold on him.
A judge in the criminal case has found that he is not subject to detention under the Bail Reform Act re his criminal charge.
That does nothing to the ICE hold — the Magistrate has no jurisdiction over Immigration Court matters.
If he is ordered released, it means released from the custody of the USMS.
He will go right back into the custody of ICE.
Not complicated — unless you don’t know how the two processes work side-by-side.
One other thing it is important to note — the Immigration Court case to which Ship refers is not the Maryland habeas case pending in front of Judge Paula Xinis, which was the focus of much of the legal wrangling prior to Abrego’s indictment. (That one has largely stalled out in the face of the criminal proceedings, and the government has filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.)
In any event, in the criminal matter, the government has appealed Judge Holmes’ release order and has moved to stay the order as well.
So, again, perhaps a surprising ruling in the criminal case (though not wildly out of bounds under the statutory framework), but one that, in the long run, likely will not result in St. Kilmar going free.
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