Judge pauses Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release for 30 days
Judge pauses Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release for 30 days
Another judge ordered him returned to Maryland if he is released.
July 23, 2025, 1:46 PM
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Judge to hear arguments over transfer of Abrego Garcia to Maryland from Tennessee
Judge to hear arguments over transfer of Abrego Garcia to Maryland from TennesseeThe judge in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation case in Maryland will hear arguments over whether he should be transferred to Maryland as he awaits trial in Tennessee.
A magistrate judge in Tennessee has paused accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from criminal custody for 30 days, shortly after a separate judge ruled he should be returned to Maryland if released while awaiting trial.
Abrego Garcia has been awaiting his release on bail after pleading not guilty last month to human smuggling charges in Tennessee.
“Abrego shall therefore remain in the custody of the United States Marshal pending further order, as previously directed,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said Wednesday.
MORE: Abrego Garcia’s attorneys request 30-day stay if he is ordered released pending trial
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys requested the stay on Monday because they were advised by the government that if Abrego Garcia were released, the Department of Homeland Security would begin removal proceedings.
“Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the Court deny the government’s motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days to allow Mr. Abrego to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary,” his lawyers wrote on Monday.
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Wednesday’s ruling came shortly after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to Maryland and blocked the administration from detaining and deporting him upon his release from criminal custody.
Xinis ruled that the U.S. government “shall restore Abrego Garcia to his ICE Order of Supervision out of the Baltimore Field Office.”
Judge Xinis said her order to have Abrego Garcia placed under ICE supervision in Maryland, where he was living with his wife and children before he was mistakenly deported in March, is necessary to “provide the kind of effective relief to which a wrongfully removed alien is entitled upon return.”
The federal judge said her order, which also requires the government to provide 72 hours’ notice if it intends to deport him to a third country, is “narrowly tailored” to allow the Trump administration to initiate “lawful immigration proceedings upon Abrego Garcia’s return to Maryland.”
The immigration proceedings may or may not include “lawful arrest, detention and eventual removal,” Xinis said.
This decision follows a separate ruling in Abrego Garcia’s criminal case where U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw denied the government’s motion to revoke a magistrate judge’s order for Abrego Garcia’s release. Judge Crenshaw said on Wednesday that Abrego Garcia “shall be released upon the issuance of the Magistrate Judge’s release order with conditions.”
Judge Crenshaw said he was not persuaded that “Abrego’s unlawful removal from the United States now presents a risk that he will fail to appear in court to avoid similar treatment in the future.”
In his memo, Judge Crenshaw said t
