A federal judge ruled on Sunday against President Donald Trump’s administration’s request to have Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant charged with human trafficking in connection with the MS-13 gang, remain in detention throughout his criminal trial. The judge ordered that the illegal immigrant be released pending the result of his criminal trial.
The Department of Justice previously announced that Garcia was charged with “alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling” over human trafficking operations he allegedly conducted in 2015 and 2016 as a members of the MS-13 gang. According to The Post Millennial, Garcia was previously scheduled for deportation in 2019, was deported by the Trump administration earlier this year, and was recently brought back to the United States for a criminal trial in Tennessee.
In Sunday’s ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes stated, “Overall, 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.”
Holmes claimed in Sunday’s ruling that the Trump administration’s Justice Department did not prove that there was a “serious risk” that the illegal immigrant would try to “flee” if he was released, that there was a “‘serious risk’ that Abrego will obstruct justice or otherwise interfere with the integrity” of the court proceedings, and that there was a minor victim involved in the case against Garcia.
READ MORE: Pic: Illegal immigrant drags ICE agent 50 yards with car to avoid arrest
According to The Post Millennial, while Holmes scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to determine the conditions of the illegal immigrant’s release, the Trump administration is already appealing the judge’s release order.
In Sunday’s ruling, Holmes explained that her order to release Garcia was “little more than an academic exercise” since U.S. Immigrants and Customs Enforcement had already threatened to detain the illegal immigrant if he was released from custody.
Holmes wrote, “The sole circumstance about which the government and Abrego [Garcia] may agree in this case is the likelihood that Abrego [Garcia] will remain in custody regardless of the outcome of the issues raised in the government’s motion for detention.”
In a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement pledging to prevent the illegal immigrant from being released in the United States.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal illegal alien,” McLaughlin tweeted. “We have said it for months and it remains true to this day: he will never go free on American soil.”
