Tennessee congressman says Kilmar Abrego Garcia fits definition of 'flight risk' despite ruling

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said Monday that illegal migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia fits the definition of a "flight risk" despite a judge's recent ruling. 

"You have that magistrate judge in Tennessee who said he wasn't a flight risk," Ogles said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "Now keep in mind, this is someone from El Salvador who's alleged to have trafficked people regularly through Nashville, who's living in Maryland...like the guy's got contacts all over the place. I think he fits the definition of flight risk. Meanwhile, this judge disagrees."

Over the weekend, Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that Abrego Garcia could be freed before his federal trial set to take place in Nashville. 

“Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego’s release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community," Holmes wrote in her ruling, according to local media.

Abrego Garcia faces human smuggling charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. 

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally and was allowed to stay on the argument he would face gang violence if forced to return to El Salvador. The Trump administration deported him for purportedly being a member of the MS-13 gang, but courts said he was removed without getting due process – essentially a court hearing on the matter. 

"This is one of those cases that really just boggles the mind," Ogles said. "He was framed as this Maryland dad of three, but it turns out he was a wife beater. They found out that he's most likely [been] trafficking people over the course of a decade, and that's the poster child who the left is going to lift up and defend?"