The judge acknowledged in her ruling that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is "little more than an academic exercise" because ICE will likely detain him.

A judge in Tennessee said the Justice Department hasn’t made a convincing case that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be kept in pretrial detention, though the mistakenly deported man who was returned to the US is likely to remain in federal immigration custody regardless.

Judge rules against detaining alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia after his controversial deportation and return, highlighting tensions in Trump's immigration policies.