Federal Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ordered that Kilmar Abrego García, the man wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador, be released before his federal trial in Nashville. However, that does not necessarily mean he will return home to Maryland or be released from federal custody. Holmes denied the government's motion to detain Abrego García, holding that the court “will afford Abrego the due process rights he is guaranteed,” the judge established. The judge made her order public, ruling that “overall, the court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego's release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to others or to the community.” A hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday to review the conditions of its release. The US government returned Abrego García to the United States on June 6, after he was expelled along with 230 other immigrants to El Salvador, despite having a status that protected him from deportation. The Supreme Court and a Maryland judge concluded that his deportation was unlawful. However, upon his return to the United States, the Salvadoran national was charged with alleged human trafficking. These charges date back to an encounter the defendant had with police in Tennessee in 2022, when he was traveling with several suspected undocumented immigrants. Abrego García pleaded not guilty at the first hearing related to those charges, which took place on June 13 in Nashville, Tennessee. Although Trump has insisted that Abrego is a member of the violent MS-13 gang, Holmes said that the evidence prosecutors presented about his gang ties during a one-day court hearing in Nashville earlier this month was not very helpful. While the hearing was taking place, hundreds of people protested outside the court to demand the defendant's release and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Despite the ruling by Nashville-based US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, Abrego is unlikely to be released soon. The Justice Department immediately filed an appeal, and an order is in place to keep him in immigration custody, at least for the short term.