Update, Aug. 25: Kilmar Abrego Garcia was taken into ICE custody at an immigration appointment Monday morning in Baltimore. Abrego's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg tells media that he and his team were not told where Abrego is being sent, but the Trump administration has signaled its intention to deport him to Uganda.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who made national headlines after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, has been released from custody in Tennessee and is heading to his home state.
Abrego was released from Putnam County Jail Friday and is now awaiting trial on federal human smuggling charges. After being returned to Nashville from El Salvador in June, Abrego was indicted in Nashville. Since that time, the 30-year-old Salvadoran immigrant has been at the center of a national media storm while remaining in federal custody. Upon his release Friday, he was joined by personal security and an attorney.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia seated in an SUV as he departs the Putnam County Jail, Aug. 22, 2025
This week, Abrego’s attorneys filed a motion asking for dismissal of his criminal case, accusing the Trump administration’s Justice Department of vindictive prosecution. He has pleaded not guilty to charges related to a 2022 traffic stop in Putnam County, when the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped and subsequently released Abrego and his passengers.
As reported by the Associated Press, though Abrego’s deportation to El Salvador would violate a judge’s order, officials with the Department of Homeland Security “have said they plan to deport him to an unnamed third country.”
"Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free,” reads a statement from Abrego’s attorney Sean Hecker. “He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government’s vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the Administration’s continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process."
Abrego, his security and his attorney entered an SUV and departed the Putnam County Jail at approximately 2 p.m. on Friday.
