A U.S. magistrate judge in Tennessee on Friday ordered the release of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the Putnam County Jail, clearing the way for him to travel to Maryland and live under immigration supervision while he awaits trial on federal human-smuggling charges. The ruling ended a 30-day pause Abrego Garcia’s own lawyers had requested last month amid fears that immigration agents would immediately deport him again upon his release. Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint in U.S. immigration policy after he was erroneously deported to El Salvador in March, despite a 2019 court order barring his removal because of gang-related threats. The Supreme Court in April upheld a lower-court directive requiring the Trump administration to bring him back, and federal prosecutors obtained a smuggling indictment in June after his return. He has pleaded not guilty. On 19 August Abrego Garcia’s attorneys moved to dismiss the indictment, alleging “vindictive and selective prosecution” designed to punish him for challenging his deportation. U.S. District Judges Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee and Paula Xinis in Maryland have separately ruled that the government failed to show he is a flight risk and that any future removal must follow due-process safeguards. Under Judge Xinis’s earlier order, Abrego Garcia will remain under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement order of supervision in Maryland; officials must give him 72 hours’ notice before any attempt to deport him to a third country. His jury trial in Nashville is set for 27 January 2027, and the Justice Department has until early September to respond to the motion seeking to throw out the case.