US District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention.
The ruling from Judge Paula Xinis is the latest turn in the case of Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March.
The Maryland resident was later returned to the US, but the Trump administration has continued to seek his deportation to another country.
Xinis wrote in her decision that since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority. “For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia’s Petition for immediate release from ICE custody,” she added.
Abrego Garcia entered the US as a teenager without documentation and has resided in Maryland with his wife and children for years.
An immigration judge in 2019 ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.
The Trump administration’s violation of that order became a rallying point for critics of the President’s mass deportation campaign. Authorities have since been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries.
Abrego Garcia has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him due to the attention his wrongful deportation created.
Since his return, federal authorities have also filed charges against Abrego Garcia for alleged human smuggling related to a 2022 traffic stop.
Abrego Garcia is still under strict pre-trial release conditions imposed on him by the federal judge overseeing a human smuggling criminal case brought against him in Nashville.
Those conditions include being under the custody of his brother in Maryland and not being able to travel outside that state without permission from the Tennessee court.
He also cannot leave his residence except to go to work, attend religious services, see a medical professional or attend court proceedings. The trial in that case is set to begin in January. He has pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.
The Trump administration has struggled in recent weeks to find a country to quickly deport him to. Judges are able to order officials to release detained migrants if their removal from the US doesn’t appear imminent.
“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia
He added that the administration’s “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 wrote that officials could have sent Garcia to at least one of the countries, Costa Rica, in late August, but showed an “inexplicable reluctance” to do so. When she ordered more information on about their hesitation, Xinis said, her orders were “were ignored without justification.”
While Xinis did not define “immediately,” the judge said that the Justice Department must report on the status of his release by 5pm ET Thursday.
Order For Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Release Slammed
The Department of Homeland Security’s spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, blasted Xinis’ order.
“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge. This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
Tricia McLaughlin
Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation has been the basis of a fraught legal battle that’s included tense confrontations between the judge and the Justice Department.
It has also come to embody the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and aggressive posture in trying to deport immigrants to far-flung countries.
READ ALSO: NAGRAT Gives Government 14 Days to Act on Kade SHTS Assault Before Strike Action
