Federal judge refuses to detain alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia

A federal judge in Tennessee has denied the government’s request to hold Kilmar Abrego Garcia in continued detention while his criminal case proceeds.

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian migrant who was erroneously deported to El Salvador before being returned to the U.S. to face federal prosecution on charges of trafficking undocumented migrants and conspiring with others to do so.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the government’s request to hold Abrego Garcia, though he will remain in custody until at least a hearing that has been scheduled to determine conditions of release, which the government can, and will likely, appeal.

Abrego Garcia appeared at his arraignment and hearing on the government’s detention on June 13. According to the judge’s decision on Sunday, “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.”

This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia.  (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)

Special Agent Peter T. Joseph told prosecutors on June 13 that he was first assigned to Abrego Garcia’s case in April 2025, when he was still detained in El Salvador.

Since then, Joseph said, he has reviewed footage from Abrego Garcia’s 2022 traffic stop, which has emerged as the basis of the human smuggling charges.

At the time, Joseph told prosecutors, Abrego Garcia had been driving a vehicle with nine passengers and was pulled over while driving from St. Louis to Maryland with an expired license.

Six of the nine passengers in the vehicle have since been identified as being in the U.S. illegally, Joseph said, adding that one passenger in the van told officers that he was born in 2007, which would have made him just 15 at the time.

Abrego Garcia’s legal team has vehemently disputed his alleged status as an MS-13 member. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges. 

His case has become a national flashpoint in the broader fight over Trump’s hard-line immigration policies in his second White House term.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.