Abrego Garcia Freed From Tenn. Jail, Returning to Md.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been freed from Putnam County Jail in Cookeville, Tennessee, and is on his way to reunite with his family in Maryland, his attorney told WZTV.

This comes after a U.S. magistrate judge was expected to grant his release Friday as Abrego Garcia awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges.

"Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free," Abrego Garcia's attorney, Sean Hecker, said. "He is presently 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. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process."

The release provides the closest thing to freedom Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member, has felt since he was deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison in March as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Abrego Garcia's legal team stated in a court filing Tuesday that a private security firm would take him from Tennessee to Maryland when he's freed.

But Abrego Garcia's liberty before trial could be short-lived. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might detain him once he arrives in his adopted state of Maryland and could try to deport him again.

U.S. Magistrate Barbara Holmes in Nashville ruled in June that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released from jail while he awaits trial, determining that he's not a flight risk or danger to the community.

Holmes discussed at a court hearing conditions of release that would require Abrego Garcia to stay with his brother in Maryland. He would also have electronic monitoring and be placed on home detention.

Thomas Giles, an assistant director for ICE, testified last month that Abrego Garcia would be detained as soon as he's freed. He added that Mexico or South Sudan might be willing to accept Abrego Garcia, but the Trump administration hadn't decided on anything yet.

U.S. officials have argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, but not to his native El Salvador.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.