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Judge Keeps Garcia in Custody as DOJ Shields Star Witness From Deportation

The order safeguards Garcia’s right to a fair hearing in response to defense fears of re-deportation, reflecting prosecutors’ decision to bar removal of their primary cooperator.

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A protester holds a photo of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia as demonstrators gather to protest against the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador outside the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations on April 24, 2025, in New York City.
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Supporters listen to an attorney speak about Kilmar Ábrego García on April 15 in Greenbelt, Maryland. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Overview

  • U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Garcia must remain in U.S. Marshals custody until a July 16 hearing to address defense concerns that ICE would deport him if he were freed.
  • Prosecutors struck a deal to protect Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes—which spares the three-time felon from deportation—for his cooperation as the government’s principal witness in the 2022 Tennessee smuggling case.
  • Hernandez Reyes, a three-time felon convicted of migrant smuggling, illegal reentry and deadly conduct in a Texas shooting, was identified as the registered owner of the SUV Garcia was driving when officers stopped him with nine passengers.
  • Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 withholding order, then returned under a Supreme Court mandate to face federal human smuggling charges to which he pleaded not guilty.
  • The case underscores tensions between executive deportation policies under President Trump’s administration and federal court requirements to uphold judicial orders and due process rights.