Judges order release of 2 high-profile migrants

Mahmoud Khalil in New York after release from detention — Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil in New York after his release from detention

(Image credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

What happened

A federal judge in Nashville Sunday denied a Trump administration motion to detain Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man illegally deported to an El Salvador prison in March, as the government pursues unrelated federal criminal charges filed before he was brought back to the U.S. on June 6. In a separate high-profile Trump-era immigration case, former Columbia student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil returned to New York City, and his wife and newborn son, on Saturday after being released following more than three months of detention in Louisiana.

Who said what

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that the government had "failed" to prove Ábrego, 29, was a flight risk or danger to the community, and said many of the gang and human-trafficking allegations against him "defy common sense" or were based on "double hearsay" and other problematic testimony. Her ruling is the "latest twist in a saga that has resulted in multiple black eyes for Trump's mass deportation policy, including a rebuke from the Supreme Court," Politico said, though Ábrego is "unlikely to be released anytime soon."

New Jersey U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release on bail Friday, saying the government had not presented any legitimate reasons to keep him locked up. Khalil, 30, was the "first noncitizen activist to be arrested and detained" under Trump, The Washington Post said, and with 104 days behind bars, he was "detained far longer than any other targeted student and has not been accused of any crime."

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What next?

Holmes set a Wednesday hearing on the conditions for Ábrego's release. But the government has already appealed her decision and ICE "will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him," The Associated Press said. The government is also still trying to deport Khalil.

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.