Update: The DOJ appealed the judge’s release order.
Federal magistrate judge Barbara Holmes on Sunday ruled MS-13 gang member and wife beater Kilmar Abrego Garcia should not be detained on his criminal charges.
Abrego Garcia will likely remain in custody on an ICE detainer.
“As required by the Bail Reform Act, the Court has reviewed the evidence presented at the June 13 hearing and considered the parties’ arguments and the Pretrial Services report. For the reasons detailed below, the government’s motion for detention is DENIED. Specifically, the Court finds that no detention hearing is authorized under the Bail Reform Act in this case because the government failed to prove that this case involves: (1) a minor victim within the meaning of § 3142(f)(1)(E); (2) a “serious risk” that Abrego will flee, as required by § 3142(f)(2)(A); or, (3) a “serious risk” that Abrego will obstruct justice or otherwise interfere with the integrity of this proceeding, as required by § 3142(f)(2)(B),” the judge wrote in a 51-page memo.
BREAKING: Magistrate judge rules Abrego Garcia should not be detained on his criminal charges — even though he’s likely to remain in ICE custody. https://t.co/Yx7hLTg5iu pic.twitter.com/jVhoKubwmx
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 22, 2025
Earlier this month Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to human trafficking charges as and fought for his release pending trial.
Abrego Garcia appeared in a Nashville court clad in a red jumpsuit.
A federal grand jury in Tennessee recently indicted Kilmar Abrego Garcia for “transporting undocumented migrants within the United States.”
He was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.
According to the indictment, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and co-conspirators from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the US were trafficking illegal aliens from 2016 through 2025.
Read the indictment here.
“If convicted at trial, the defendant faces a maximum punishment of 10 years’ imprisonment for ‘each alien’ he transported,” the government said.
ABC News reported that according to the government’s motion for detention, an Abrego Garcia co-conspirator told the feds that Abrego Garcia was involved in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother.
Last month Fox News obtained 2022 bodycam footage that shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia being caught human trafficking in Tennessee.
WATCH:
BREAKING: Fox has obtained the body cam footage that shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia being caught human trafficking in 2022.
Biden’s FBI was called, and said to simply release Abrego Garcia. Biden’s ICE was called, and never bothered to show up.
For decades, American elites… pic.twitter.com/Z4LPHRFd7Q
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 2, 2025
Read the full article here