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A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Ábrego García — whose wrongful deportation has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — ruling that the government never obtained a formal order for his removal from the country.
The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland means that Ábrego García will be allowed to temporarily return to his Maryland home, despite repeated declarations by Trump administration officials that he would never again be free in the United States.
The saga began in March when Ábrego García was illegally deported to a prison in his native El Salvador, then brought back to the United States in June to face human trafficking charges.
His case has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, with Trump officials portraying Ábrego as a danger to public safety.
Critics accuse the administration of flouting legal rights in its attempt to deport millions of people living in the United States illegally.
White House vows to appeal
Ábrego García, 30, has been in immigration detention since August, when immigration authorities arrested him shortly after he was released in connection with his criminal case. The order requests that he be released immediately from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Pennsylvania.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the Trump administration would appeal the decision.
“The administration has objected to this activism from a judge who is actually acting as a judicial activist, which we have unfortunately seen in many cases across the country,” Leavitt said during a press briefing.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s tightening of immigration enforcement, is being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the United States says was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. Photo credit: Abrego Garcia family
A lawyer for Ábrego García praised the decision as “respect for due process and the rule of law.”
“Today’s decision granting Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release is a victory not only for a Maryland man but for everyone,” Andrew Rossman, attorney for Ábrego García, said in a statement.
Xinis, who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama, ruled that Ábrego García was entitled to be released in part because an immigration judge failed to issue a formal deportation order in 2019, when that judge barred his deportation to El Salvador due to a risk of gang persecution.
Xinis wrote that without a formal order, the Trump administration has “no legal basis to detain and deport” Ábrego García, so “his continued detention must end.”
US tries to expel again
The ruling is the latest legal victory for Ábrego García in his battles with the Trump administration.
The U.S. Supreme Court previously ordered the government to facilitate his return from El Salvador, and federal judges in Tennessee rejected prosecutors’ requests to keep him in criminal custody pending trial.
Ábrego García’s lawyers asked Xinis to order his release, arguing that his continued detention had the illegal purpose of punishing him rather than preparing for a second expulsion.
Trump administration lawyers argued he could be legally detained for at least six months while awaiting deportation. They argued that the immigration judge’s 2019 ruling implied that Ábrego García was eligible for deportation and should be interpreted as a formal deportation order.
The Trump administration is still trying to deport Ábrego García a second time, passing through several African countries as potential destinations before Liberia agreed to temporarily accept him on a humanitarian basis.
Three days after being released, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who became a flashpoint for U.S. immigration enforcement, was rearrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to face human trafficking charges and possible deportation to Uganda.
Ábrego García’s lawyers said he would agree to be deported to Costa Rica, a Spanish-speaking country in Central America that had previously agreed to offer him refugee status. The Trump administration has not explained why it would not accept Costa Rica, citing only the need to continue negotiations.
Ábrego García, a sheet metal worker who entered the United States illegally, lived in Maryland with his wife and children until ICE arrested him and sent him to a Salvadoran mega-prison known for its harsh living conditions.
Ábrego García also pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges accusing him of helping transport migrants living illegally in the United States. A federal judge overseeing the case found it reasonably likely that the lawsuit was “vindictive” and brought by the Trump administration in retaliation for Ábrego García challenging his deportation in March.
He will remain subject to the conditions of release ordered in his criminal case, including home detention and electronic monitoring.
