Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from Putnam County Jail in Tennessee on Friday and has been reunited with his family while he awaits trial, according to his attorney.
It’s the latest development in the case of a man who was mistakenly removed from the U.S. to an El Salvador prison where he alleges he was tortured. Initially detained by immigration officials in March before being sent to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. in June to face criminal charges that were filed in Tennessee. The Justice Department has accused him of smuggling and gang membership, allegations his family denies. He pleaded not guilty to two criminal counts of human smuggling last month.
Abrego Garcia will be returning to Maryland, “where he rightly belongs,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who visited him when he was incarcerated in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia said in a statement that he’s grateful for his release, but he noted that the Trump administration could still seek his deportation.
“We are steps closer to justice, but justice has not been fully served,” his statement read.
“For the first time since March, our client Kilmar Abrego Garcia is reunited with his loving family,” attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “While his release brings some relief, we all know that he is far from safe. ICE detention or deportation to an unknown third country still threatens to tear his family apart. A measure of justice has been done, but the government must stop pursuing actions that would once again separate this family.”
Brett Carlsen / AP 
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem condemned his release and suggested the Trump administration will continue to seek his removal from the U.S. She called a federal judge’s ruling allowing him to return to Maryland a “new low” in attempts by “activist liberal judges” to “obstruct our law enforcement every step of the way in removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country.”
“We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country,” Noem said.
A federal magistrate had ordered Abrego Garcia to be released from jail while he awaits trial, currently scheduled for January. He is expected to have to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers requested a delay of his release from jail in Tennessee earlier this summer, fearing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could immediately detain him and try to deport him again. Last month, a federal judge in Maryland ruled that the government must return Abrego Garcia to supervised release under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, re-implementing a 2019 order.
Under that supervision order, issued in 2019, Abrego Garcia, who is Salvadoran, had permission to live in Maryland, as well as authorization to work. He was required to check in with an immigration officer at the ICE office in Baltimore. Court filings indicate Abrego Garcia was in compliance with the ICE supervision order when he was deported to El Salvador. The judge also ruled that Abrego Garcia must receive 72 hours’ notice if the Trump administration plans to deport him anywhere other than his country of origin, El Salvador.
CBS News learned Friday evening that the Trump administration may attempt to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, this according to a senior Department of Homeland Security official and a notice sent by government officials that was obtained by CBS News.
Following his release from detention, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys were sent a court-required notice of his potential deportation to Uganda, the official said.
The notice said he may be deported to the East African country “no earlier than 72 hours from now,” not including weekends.
Melissa Quinn and
contributed to this report.
