MEXICO CITY — A legal battle is playing out in Mexico over a well-known immigration activist and lawyer who was arrested earlier this month for alleged human trafficking and then ordered released by a judge in a case that underscored the conflicted stands on protecting migrants among Mexican officials.

On Tuesday, Mexico's Attorney General’s Office announced it will appeal the decision from the previous day to release Luis García Villagrán, who has helped organize migrant caravans that travel north from southern Mexico.

When García Villagrán was released from detention on Monday, Judge Jonathan Izquierdo in Tapachula, a city in the state of Chiapas on Mexico's border with Guatemala, said authorities did not have enough evidence to prosecute him for human trafficking.

“I had never seen a

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