A Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported and then brought back to the US on criminal charges has been released from jail, his attorney told the BBC.
“Today, Kilmar Ábrego García is free,” attorney Sean Hecker said. He planned to return to his family in Maryland.
Mr Ábrego García was deported to his native El Salvador in March as part of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, where he was kept in the notorious Cecot prison. US government officials acknowledged at the time that he was removed in error.
He was returned to the United States earlier in June and sent to the state of Tennessee, where he was charged in a human smuggling scheme. He’s pleaded not guilty.
His attorneys say it will be the first time he’s able to fully reunite with his family since he was deported since March. He has a wife and two children.
“Today has been a very special day because I have seen my family for the first time in more than 160 days,” Mr Ábrego García said in a statement following his release.
He says he is thankful to everyone who supported and prayed for him.
“Today I am grateful to God because He has heard me and today I am out. We are steps closer to justice, but justice has not been fully served,” he said.
Mr Ábrego García’s release is a blow to the Trump administration, who firmly stood by his deportation and vowed he would “never go free” on American soil.
His lawyers say they worry Mr Ábrego García may be taken into custody once again by immigration authorities when he arrives in Maryland and are concerned he may be deported to another country.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem criticised the judge for allowing his release.
“By ordering this monster loose on America’s streets, this judge has shown a complete disregard for the safety of the American people,” she said in a statement to the BBC.
“We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country.”
Mr Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.
Later that year, he was granted protection from deportation by an immigration judge because it was determined he might face danger from gangs if returned to his native El Salvador.
But in March 2025 the Maryland resident was deported and initially held in El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison, in what Trump administration officials later admitted was a mistake. A judge ordered the government to “facilitate” his return, but White House officials initially refused to bring him back.
Following his return to face human smuggling charges in June, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that “this is what American justice looks like”.
He denied any wrongdoing, and his attorneys called the trafficking charges “preposterous”.
In late June, a federal judge in Tennessee had ruled that Mr Ábrego García was eligible for release, but remained in jail over fears from his own legal team that he could be swiftly deported again if he leaves the facility.
The Trump administration has said it may seek to remove him and have him sent to Mexico or South Sudan.
A judge has ordered that the administration must give lawyers notice if they do seek to deport Mr Ábrego García.
