US Judge orders Abrego Garcia’s immediate release from ICE detention | World News
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, in Cookeville, Tenn. (AP Photo)
A federal judge in Maryland ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia freed from immigration detention on Thursday while his legal challenge against his deportation moves forward. US Drict Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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.”
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, front left, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, attends a protest rally at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, to support Kilmar Abrego Garciab. (AP)
The Department of Homeland Security was highly critical of the judge’s order and vowed to oppose it, calling it “naked judicial activism” a judge appointed 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 assant secretary.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager.Story continues below this ad
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was deported despite a judgement saying he shouldn’t be (Reuters)
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. When Abrego Garcia was makenly 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 US under a court order. Since he cannot be deported to El Salvador, ICE has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries.
His lawsuit in federal court claims Trump’s Republican adminration is illegally using the deportation process to punish Abrego Garcia over the embarrassment of his maken deportation to El Salvador.
