Judge orders release of Kilmar Garcia — but DHS vows that 'he will never go free on American soil'

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed never to allow Kilmar Abrego Garcia to "go free on American soil," after a judge ordered his release from detention pending an immigration trial.

The fight over the fate of the accused gang member who had been living in Maryland has come to symbolize the opposition of Democrats to the mass deportation efforts of the Trump administration.

'We have said it for months and it remains true to this day: he will never go free on American soil.'

On Sunday, the Trump administration was dealt a blow in that struggle when U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that the government had not proven its contention that Garcia was a flight risk and ordered his release.

"Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego Garcia's release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community," she added.

Holmes, however, acknowledged that the ruling was "little more than an academic exercise" because Garcia would likely be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin appeared to confirm Holmes' suspicions in a response to the ruling.

"Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal illegal alien. We have said it for months and it remains true to this day: he will never go free on American soil," she wrote on the X social media platform.

Garcia was initially deported to the infamous prison in El Salvador for terrorists, but a campaign by Democrats and court challenges led the Trump administration to bring him back to the U.S. Then the Justice Dept. immediately filed far more serious charges against him related to an alleged human-trafficking ring.

He has pleaded not guilty to the new smuggling charges, and his attorneys argued that they were merely an attempt to justify his deportation after the fact.

Holmes scheduled a hearing on Wednesday to determine the conditions of his release, but the government has already filed a motion to appeal the order.

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Supporters of Trump's mass deportation plans have argued that it is simply too onerous a demand to provide due process to the millions, and possibly tens of millions, of illegal aliens who are present in the U.S.

"The Trump administration is very invested in making this a referendum on the immigration debate, which, as you know, has become coarsened and polarized," said Chris Newman, an attorney for the Garcia family. "I view this as a core constitutional order case, a core due process case."

President Donald Trump personally weighed in on the debate in April when he released a photograph of himself holding an image of tattoos on Garcia's knuckles that allegedly symbolized his membership in MS-13, a heinous criminal gang.

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