Justice rejects government's arrest warrant for Kilmar Ábrego's detention

On Sunday, a federal judge in Tennessee denied the government’s request to keep Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Ábrego García detained while his criminal case moves forward.

Judge Barbara Holmes denied the Trump administration’s request to keep Ábrego detained. However, the Salvadoran would probably remain in custody until a scheduled hearing as his charges of smuggling undocumented immigrants move through the courts.

Judge Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia is neither a flight risk or a danger to the community. Her decision contradicts the government’s repeated claims that he is a member of the dangerous MS-13 gang.

According to The New York Times, Judge Holmes "in her decision, cast doubt on the veracity of the cooperators’ claims, noting that one of them had gotten a deferral of his own deportation in exchange for his testimony and that others had asked for similar benefits."

"She also expressed deep skepticism about claims by prosecutors that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a member of the street gang MS-13, saying that he had no prior criminal record and that the accusations of his gang ties largely came from unreliable informants who had contradicted one another."

Much of Judge Holmes’ decision was based on the testimony of Homeland Security agent Peter Joseph. The judge noted that Mr. Joseph attempted to frame the case as involving human trafficking, including minors, but the evidence presented by prosecutors pointed more toward routine smuggling charges.

"To be clear, the offenses of which Abrego is charged are human smuggling, not human trafficking," Holmes wrote. "Although 'smuggling' and 'trafficking' were sometimes used interchangeably during the detention hearing, there is a clear difference between the two under the law. They are not transposable."

During his testimony, Agent Joseph said Ábrego earned up to $100,000 a year transporting immigrants across the country as part of the smuggling ring, often along a route from Texas to Maryland. 

The agent added that, according to cooperating members of the smuggling ring, Ábrego sometimes also transported drugs and weapons. He allegedly had a plan to claim he was driving construction equipment if stopped by authorities.