A federal judge in Tennessee has balked at the Trump administration’s request to halt the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, arguing that the Department of Justice‘s case “defies logic.”
In an opinion issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. rejected the government’s bid to delay the father of three’s release from jail on the grounds that he might be deported before facing trial. Obama-appointed Judge Crenshaw said the authority to deport Abrego lies entirely with the federal government.
Newsweek has contacted both Abrego Garcia’s legal team via email, and the DOJ, via contact form, for comment.
In this photo released by Senator Van Hollen’s press office, Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in…
In this photo released by Senator Van Hollen’s press office, Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Thursday, April 17, 2025.
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Why It Matters
Construction worker Abrego Garcia was among the 230 migrants who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious supervision Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT in March this year. His bid for asylum failed, but a judge had granted him a “withholding of removal” order in 2019, because he faced gang persecution in San Salvador.
The Trump administration had claimed Abrego Garcia was affiliated with the MS-13 gang, though he had not been charged with any crime, and his attorneys said there was no evidence linking him to gang activity. His deportation in March occurred amid what DHS later admitted was an “administrative error.”
He became a flashpoint around the application of legal due process, or lack of it, in deportation cases.
What To Know
The Trump administration came under mounting pressure from both the courts and Democratic lawmakers to return the Salvadoran immigrant, who had been living in Maryland since entering the U.S. without legal status in 2011, but had no criminal record.
Abrego Garcia, 29, returned to the U.S. in June to face charges after being indicted by a grand jury for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants. He pleaded not guilty to human trafficking charges at an arraignment in a Tennessee federal court on June 13. The DOJ argued that, if Abrego Garcia were released, it might not be able to prevent his deportation.
But Judge Crenshaw Jr. has upheld a previous ruling by a magistrate judge that found Abrego Garcia eligible for release from detention.
Both defense and government attorneys acknowledged that, if released, Abrego Garcia could be taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and potentially deported before his criminal case proceeds.
Such a scenario, they argued, could prevent Abrego Garcia from contesting the charges, which he denies, and could also hinder the government’s ability to prosecute the case.
In his written opinion, Judge Crenshaw Jr. observed that the risk of deportation stemmed from decisions within the executive branch itself.
“At bottom, the Government asks the Court to save it from itself because it may suffer irreparable harm completely of its own making,” the judge wrote in court documents obtained by Newsweek.
The Justice Department had argued that Abrego’s potential deportation—triggered by an ICE detainer, would cause “irreparable injury” by preventing prosecutors from pursuing criminal charges. But Crenshaw dismissed that argument as both self-inflicted and legally unsound.
“It is the Executive Branch’s decision that places the Government in this predicament,” the judge wrote. “Because the Department of Justice and DHS can together prevent the harm the Government contends it faces, it can hardly be considered certain, great, or beyond remediation.”
The judge leaned on long-standing legal precedent to dismantle the DOJ’s claim, citing Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit rulings that require irreparable harm to be both “certain and great,” not speculative or avoidable.
“If the Court were to indulge the Government’s argument, it could lead to the inevitable conclusion that the Executive’s injury on itself satisfies this strict standard. That defies logic,” the judge wrote.
The opinion adds further scrutiny to the Trump administration’s internal coordination—or lack thereof—between its law enforcement and immigration agencies.
Crenshaw said that if the DOJ considers Abrego’s prosecution a priority, it should be working with DHS to ensure he remains in the country.
“If the Government finds this case to be as high priority as it argues here, it is incumbent upon it to ensure that Abrego is held accountable for the charges in the Indictment. If the Department of Justice and DHS cannot do so, that speaks for itself,” he wrote.
The judge said the government didn’t give a strong enough reason to delay Abrego Garcia’s release from jail, and denied its request to keep him in custody.
What People Are Saying
Judge Crenshaw wrote in court documents: “The focus here is not what will happen to Abrego after he is released, but whether the Government has made the proper showing to trigger the statutory authority to detain him. The answer to that question is important, as it is axiomatic that an individual has a “strong interest in liberty.”
Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director of Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “Ignoring court orders and charging people with crimes after they have already been sent to detention is authoritarianism at work. It’s not merely a coincidence that this case is unfolding in Tennessee. This administration thinks that the people of Tennessee will be sympathetic to their attempt to paint our communities with a wide brush and spin a narrative where immigrants are seen and treated as criminals. But Tennesseans themselves have shown time and again this is not what we stand for, and that they will continue to fight to make sure our state is one that champions justice, welcomes new neighbors, and offers everyone the opportunity to live with dignity.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told Newsweek in a statement: “The Justice Department’s Grand Jury Indictment against Abrego Garcia proves the unhinged Democratic Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools. Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’— Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable. Abrego Garcia will now return to the United States to answer for his crimes and meet the full force of American justice.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, rejecting the prosecution’s assertions that he was a danger, at his arraignment hearing where he pleaded not guilty, per The Associated Press: “If Mr. Abrego Garcia is so dangerous, this violent MS-13 guy, why did they wait almost three years to indict him on this? Why wait until literally after the Supreme Court told them they denied him due process and they had to bring him back before they investigate him?”
What Happens Next
Abrego Garcia is currently being held in Nashville, Tennessee, on criminal charges related to human smuggling.