Deportation dispute: Judge orders release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia; government failed to prove MS-13 links

In a major legal decision, a federal judge in Tennessee has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia , an immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year, while a separate ruling in Maryland has blocked any immediate attempt to expel him again.

The two rulings, delivered within minutes of each other on Wednesday, pave the way for Abrego Garcia to return, at least for now, as a free man to Maryland, where he had been living with his family before his ordeal began in March, New York Times reported.

Abrego Garcia was deported on 15 March despite being in the midst of legal proceedings. He was brought back to the United States in June after his removal was acknowledged to be in error. However, upon his return, he was jailed on charges linked to a criminal case in Tennessee, raising fears that US authorities were preparing to deport him a second time.

Prosecutors had accused him of being part of a long-running human smuggling operation connected to the MS-13 gang , but US district judge Waverly D Crenshaw Jr expressed serious doubts about the strength of the government's evidence.

In his ruling, Judge Crenshaw said the government had made "poor attempts to tie Abrego to MS-13", and highlighted the absence of any gang-related tattoos or markings, New York Times reported.

He said that there is no proof that Garcia "has working relationships with known MS-13 members; ever told any of the witnesses that he is a MS-13 member; or has ever been affiliated with any sort of gang activity."

Further undermining the case, Crenshaw questioned the reliability of the government's key witness, Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, a convicted smuggler from Texas who allegedly ran the operation Abrego Garcia was linked to.

Simultaneously, in Maryland, US district judge Paula Xinis issued a separate order barring immigration authorities from immediately detaining Abrego Garcia after his release.