Ábrego will return home to Maryland from Tennessee for first time after wrongful deportation to El Salvador
Kilmar Ábrego García has been freed on Friday from criminal custody in Tennessee so he can rejoin his family in Maryland while awaiting trial on human smuggling charges, after a court ordered his release.
Magistrate judge Barbara Holmes issued an order allowing the father of two to leave custody for the first time since his return to the US in June, following his wrongful deportation to El Salvador earlier this year.
In a statement following his release, Ábrego’s lawyer, Sean Hecker said: “Today, Kilmar Ábrego García is free. He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government’s vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process.”
Ábrego entered the US without permission in about 2011 as a teenager after fleeing gang violence. He was subsequently afforded a federal protection order against deportation to El Salvador.
