Kilmar Abrego, a migrant who became a symbol of US President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador, was released from criminal custody in Tennessee on Friday, as witnessed by reporters.
Video posted hours later on X by WJLA television showed him arriving at a family home in Maryland where relatives greeted him with hugs and chants of “Yes we could!” in Spanish.
Abrego, 30, was deported to his native El Salvador in March despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he is not to be sent there due to a risk of persecution by gangs.
‘Administrative Error’
He was flown back to the US in June to face criminal charges of transporting migrants living illegally in the country.
His case drew attention as the Trump administration for months took no apparent steps to bring him back despite an official’s acknowledgement that his deportation had been an “administrative error” and a federal judge’s order to facilitate his return.
Fresh Deportation Threat Looms
Abrego may not be free for long. Once in Maryland, immigration officials could take him into custody and initiate deportation proceedings.
He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have urged Nashville-based US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the charges, arguing prosecutors improperly targeted him in retaliation for filing a lawsuit challenging his deportation.
Fear Of Deportation To A Third Country
Crenshaw last month affirmed US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes’ order for Abrego to be released from pre-trial custody, finding he was neither a danger to the community nor a risk of flight.
But Holmes delayed Abrego’s release for a month at Abrego’s lawyers’ requests. The defence lawyers were concerned that Abrego, once released from criminal custody, could be detained by immigration officials and swiftly deported to a country other than El Salvador.
US District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is overseeing Abrego’s civil lawsuit challenging the legality of his deportation, has since ordered that officials give his lawyers three days’ notice before sending him to a third country, to give them the chance to challenge his removal.
Under Home Detention
Abrego had been living in Maryland with his wife, their child and two of her children before his deportation. His lawyers have said they hired private security to take him to Maryland, where he is due to report to a pre-trial supervision officer and be subject to home detention with electronic monitoring.
The US government notified Abrego’s lawyers that he would be deported to Uganda within days and he was asked to appear at a federal building in Baltimore on Monday, Fox News reported, citing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.
Abrego A ‘Monster’
Neither ICE nor Abrego’s attorneys responded to Reuters requests to authenticate the documents.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said he was still considered a criminal and an immigration violator, calling him a “monster” who was released by “activist liberal judges.”
“We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country,” Noem said on X.
(With inputs from Reuters)
