TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jun 30, 2025

Kilmar Abrego Garcia will stay in jail for now over concerns from his lawyers that he could be deported if he is released to await trial on human smuggling charges, the Associated Press reports. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had asked Nashville-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes on Friday to delay his release because of what they described as “contradictory statements” by the administration over what would happen to him if released. The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday it intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before moving to deport him. Earlier that day though a DOJ lawyer told a federal judge in Maryland that the U.S. government planned to deport him to a “third country.” Holmes, who ruled on June 22 that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial on smuggling charges, approved the defense team’s request to delay that order.