A federal judge on Thursday ordered immigration officials to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongfully deported man who has returned to the United States and is facing criminal charges.
Although he cannot be removed to El Salvador again, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had suggested sending him to several African countries with which he has no connection.
“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,”
“Separately, Respondents’ conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer,” Xinis continued.
She ordered his release to occur "immediately" and instructed the government to provide an update by 5 pm EST.
While Xinis’s ruling allows ICE to free Abrego Garcia, he remains subject to pretrial conditions in his human smuggling case.
These measures include home detention in Maryland with electronic monitoring, third-party custodianship, and other requirements to ensure his court appearances.
The ruling represents a significant legal victory for Abrego Garcia, who has been seeking release from immigration custody for months.
Xinis was appointed by former President Obama.
“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on the social platform X.
“This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
A Salvadoran national who entered the US illegally nearly 15 years ago, Abrego Garcia drew national attention after being wrongfully deported in March to a megaprison in El Salvador, despite an order protecting him from deportation over fears he would face violence.
The case became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, a key part of President Trump’s second-term agenda. The administration accused Abrego Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member, which he denies.
His case quickly moved through the courts, reaching the Supreme Court, and he returned to the US in June after a Justice Department human smuggling indictment was unsealed in Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty.
After a Tennessee judge allowed his release pending trial, Abrego Garcia returned to Maryland, where he had lived for over a decade, only to be taken into ICE custody in August and detained since.
Despite the existing order protecting him from deportation to El Salvador, the Trump administration proposed sending him to several African countries. Notices were issued at different times for Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, or Liberia, though officials later admitted the Ghana notice was sent “prematurely.”
Abrego Garcia argued he should be allowed to go to Costa Rica, but the administration claimed the country would not accept him. The judge rejected that, writing that the Trump administration “affirmatively misled the tribunal” by suggesting otherwise.
“This evidently remained an inconvenient truth for Respondents,” Xinis wrote.
“But more to the point, Respondents’ persistent refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option, their threats to send Abrego Garcia to African countries that never agreed to take him, and their misrepresentation to the Court that Liberia is now the only country available to Abrego Garcia, all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal,” the judge continued.
With inputs from agencies
