Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detention

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Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detention

Kilmar Abrego Garcia joins supporters in a protest rally outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

2025-12-11T15:42:55Z

                                       

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland ordered         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/abrego-garcia-ice-deportation-uganda-064b072c25da535a4031869f7fe959cc">Kilmar Abrego Garcia freed from immigration detention on Thursday while his legal challenge against his deportation moves forward.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26371399-judges-ruling-releasing-abrego-garcia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">must release Abrego Garcia from custody immediately.

“Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” the judge wrote. “For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia’s Petition for immediate release from ICE custody.”

The Department of Homeland Security was highly critical of the judge’s order and vowed to oppose it, calling it “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. “This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.

   
       
   

Messages seeking comment were left with Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.

Abrego Garcia, a         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-abrego-garcia-e1b2af6528f915a1f0ec60f9a1c73cdd">Salvadoran national, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge in 2019 ruled Abrego Garcia         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-deportation-settlement-el-salvador-d0cf8dbc3c4a5c8dae70b47154e6a1ab">could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family. When Abrego Garcia was         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-error-818a0fa1218de714448edcb5be1f7347">mistakenly deported there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who oppose President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

   
       




   

Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. under a court order. Since he cannot be deported to El Salvador, ICE has been seeking to deport him to a         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/third-country-agreements-abrego-garcia-deportation-76911317384dd329731246e607048f98">series of African countries. His lawsuit in federal court claims Trump’s Republican administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish Abrego Garcia over the embarrassment of his         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-trump-prison-immigrants-4ab3fc3c0474efb308084604b61f8a37">mistaken deportation to El Salvador.

   
   
       
           
               
   
   


   
   
       

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Meanwhile, in a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia is petitioning to reopen his immigration case to         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-immigration-asylum-legal-strategy-c561ce08f3dfae0620c8dc58e8cffa65">seek asylum in the United States.

   
   
       
           
               
   
   


   
   

       
   

           
       
   
   

Additionally, Abrego Garcia is facing criminal charges in federal court in Tennessee, where he has pleaded not guilty to         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/abrego-garcia-deportation-error-2bf259d9de88334bbdfb6d565b36e633">human smuggling. He has filed a motion to         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-deportation-abrego-garcia-asylum-el-salvador-trump-9fd6f91efd35ad929c5af5781d3442d7">dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.

   
       
   

A judge has ordered an evidentiary hearing to be held on the motion after previously finding some evidence that the prosecution against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive.” The judge said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.”

The judge specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-c21e54f77c1e6716e2998c2463f6650b">wrongful deportation case.

                                   
                               
                           

                           
                   
                   
Source: Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from immigration detention