Judge will consider releasing Kilmar Ábrego García from jail, which may allow second deportation

A federal judge in Tennessee could rule on Wednesday on whether to release Kilmar Ábrego García from jail to await trial on human smuggling charges, a decision that could allow Donald Trump’s administration to try to deport the Maryland construction worker for a second time.

Lawyers for the justice department have said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) will detain Ábrego García if he is freed. Ice officials have said they will initiate deportation proceedings against the Salvadorian national and will possibly try to send him to a third country such as Mexico or South Sudan.

Ábrego García became a flashpoint over the Republican Trump’s immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. That expulsion violated a US immigration judge’s 2019 order that shields Ábrego García from deportation to El Salvador because he probably faces threats of gang violence there.

The Trump administration claimed Ábrego García was in the MS-13 gang, although he was not charged and has repeatedly denied the allegation. Facing mounting pressure and a US supreme court order, the administration returned Ábrego García to the US last month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called “preposterous”.

US district Judge Waverly D Crenshaw Jr scheduled a hearing in Nashville to consider the matter of releasing Ábrego García from jail to await his trial.

Waverly will review last month’s order by US magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville to free Ábrego García. Holmes determined that Ábrego García was not a flight risk or a danger to the community and set various conditions for his release, including wearing an ankle bracelet and living with his brother in Maryland.

Waverly scheduled Wednesday’s hearing following a motion by federal prosecutors to revoke Holmes’s release order. The prosecutors argue Ábrego García is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Holmes has kept Ábrego García in jail at the request of his lawyers over concerns the Trump administration will try to deport him upon release. The attorneys asked Holmes to keep him in jail until Wednesday’s hearing before Waverly to review her release order.

The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during which Ábrego García was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police in Tennessee suspected human smuggling, but he was allowed to drive on.

Ábrego García lived and worked in Maryland for more than a decade, doing construction and raising a family. Ábrego García’s American wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is suing the Trump administration in federal court in Maryland over his wrongful deportation in March, while trying to prevent any attempts to expel him again.

Ábrego García’s attorneys have asked US district Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland to order the government to send him to Maryland if he is released in Tennessee, a request that aims to prevent his expulsion before trial.

In court on Friday, Ábrego García’s attorneys also asked for at least a 72-hour hold that would prevent his immediate deportation. Attorney Andrew Rossman called it the “critical bottom-line protection” needed to prevent a potentially egregious violation of due process rights.

Xinis did not rule from the bench on Friday but said she would issue an order before Waverly’s hearing on Wednesday.

If Ábrego García is released into Ice custody, his lawyers have vowed to fight expulsion efforts within the US immigration court system, which is part of the justice department.