Star witness against Kilmar Abrego Garcia won’t be deported, court records show
Jun 29, 2025, 12:38 PM
Katheryn Millwee holds a portrait of Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside the federal courthouse Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/George Walker IV)
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Court records show that the Trump administration has agreed to spare from deportation a key witness in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in exchange for his cooperation in the case.
Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to 鈥渄eadly conduct鈥� in connection with a separate incident where he drunkenly fired a gun in a Texas community.
Records reviewed by The show that Hernandez Reyes has been released early from federal prison to a halfway house and has been given permission to stay in the U.S. for at least a year.
Prosecutors have identified Hernandez Reyes as the 鈥渇irst cooperator鈥� in the case against Abrego, according to court filings. The Department of Homeland Security maintains that Hernandez owned the SUV that Abrego Garcia was allegedly using to smuggle migrants when the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped him in 2022. That traffic stop is at the center of the criminal investigation against Abrego Garcia.
Hernandez Reyes is among a handful of cooperating witnesses who could help the administration deport Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia, a construction worker who had been living in Maryland, became a flashpoint over Trump鈥檚 hard-line immigration policies when he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. Facing mounting pressure and a Supreme Court order, the administration returned him this month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called 鈥減reposterous.鈥�
On Friday, attorneys for Abrego Garcia asked a federal judge in Tennessee to delay his release from jail because of 鈥渃ontradictory statements鈥� by the administration over whether or not he鈥檒l be deported upon release.
A federal judge in Nashville has been preparing to release Abrego Garcia to await trial on human smuggling charges. But she鈥檚 been holding off over concerns that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would swiftly detain him and try to deport him again.
Abrego Garcia鈥檚 attorneys are now asking the judge to continue to detain him following statements by administration officials 鈥渂ecause we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by鈥� the Justice Department.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.
