FILE PHOTO: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via REUTERS/File photo

By Luc Cohen

(Reuters) -Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation in March to his native El Salvador made him a symbol of President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies, was released from criminal custody in Tennessee on Friday, his lawyer said.

Abrego, 30, was deported to his native El Salvador on March 15 despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he not be sent there due to a risk of persecution by gangs. He was flown back to the U.S. in June to face criminal charges of transporting migrants living illegally in the country.

His case drew widespread attention as the Trump administration for months took no apparent steps to bring him back despite an official's acknowledgement that his deportation was an "administrative error" and a federal judge's order to facilitate his return.

Abrego has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have urged Nashville, Tennessee-based U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the charges, arguing prosecutors improperly targeted him in retaliation for filing a lawsuit challenging his wrongful deportation.

Crenshaw last month affirmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes' order for Abrego to be released from pre-trial custody, finding he was neither a danger to the community nor a risk of flight.

But Holmes delayed Abrego's release for a month at Abrego's lawyers' requests. The defense lawyers were concerned that Abrego, once released from criminal custody, could be detained by immigration officials and swiftly deported to a country other than El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is overseeing Abrego's civil lawsuit challenging the legality of his deportation, has since ordered that officials give his lawyers three days' notice before sending him to a third country, to give them the chance to challenge his removal.

Abrego had been living in Maryland with his wife, their child, and two of her children before his deportation. His lawyers have said they hired a private security firm to transport him back to Maryland, where he is due to report to a pretrial supervision officer after his release.

Abrego may not be free for long. Once in Maryland, immigration officials may take him into custody and initiate deportation proceedings. The administration has said it may seek to deport him to Mexico or South Sudan.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Luc Cohen; Editing by Alistair Bell)