Sawt Falasteen - Salvadoran man at center of Trump deportations row freed

The US Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was mistakenly sent to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador in March.

He was returned in June and promptly arrested and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants -- but released from prison in Tennessee at the order of a US magistrate judge.

"Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free," his attorney Sean Hecker said in a statement to AFP.

The case has become emblematic of Trump's crackdown on illegal migration.

Right-wing supporters praise the Republican president's toughness but legal scholars and human rights advocates have blasted what they say is a haphazard rush to deport people in violation of basic US laws.

Hecker said Abrego Garcia was now "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."

Abrego Garcia is "grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process," Hecker added.

But the saga may not be over for the Salvadoran.

The Trump administration is not barred from initiating "lawful immigration proceedings upon Abrego Garcia's return to Maryland" -- provided it gives 72 hours' notice before deporting him to a third country -- under a July federal court ruling.

The White House responded to his release with a statement describing him as a "criminal illegal alien, wife-beater" and member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 -- insisting he would "face justice for his crimes."

"It's an insult to his victims that this left-wing magistrate intervened to put him back on the streets," Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson posted on X.

"Garcia will be subject to ankle monitoring to ensure the safety of the American public until further action can be taken."

- 'Alien smuggling ring' -

The Salvadoran's attorneys accused federal prosecutors of "vindictive and selective prosecution" in a motion seeking to dismiss charges they said had been brought "because he refused to acquiesce in the government's violation of his due process rights."

Abrego Garcia was living in the eastern state of Maryland until he became one of more than 200 people sent to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison as part of Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants.

But Justice Department lawyers admitted that the Salvadoran -- who is married to a US citizen -- had been wrongly deported due to an "administrative error."

He had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country.

Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged that Abrego Garcia had "played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring" and had trafficked "children and women" as well as MS-13 members.

She said Abrego Garcia, who denies wrongdoing and was indicted by a grand jury in Tennessee, would be returned to El Salvador upon completion of any prison sentence.

According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia was involved in smuggling undocumented migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries into the United States between 2016 and earlier this year.

His trial in his human smuggling case is set to begin in January 2027.

"Every person is afforded their right to due process by the constitution and, from the start, we've asked that due process be followed -- meaning everyone receives proper notice of the allegations against them and has an opportunity to be heard," Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement.

"This was never about one person, but about the laws that govern all people in our country. Several courts have made decisions in this case, and we expect the Trump administration to follow those decisions."

O.Salim--SF-PST