US Judge orders Abrego Garcia’s immediate release from ICE detention
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.
December 12, 2025 01:11 AM IST
First published on: Dec 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM IST
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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 District 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)
What the court said
In her order releasing Abrego Garcia, Xinis wrote that federal authorities “did not just stonewall” the court, “They affirmatively misled the tribunal.”
The judge was referencing the successive list of four African countries that officials had sought to remove Abrego Garcia seemingly without commitments from those countries, as well as officials’ affirmations that Costa Rica withdrew its offer to accept him, a claim later proven untrue.
“But Costa Rica had never wavered in its commitment to receive Abrego Garcia, just as Abrego Garcia never wavered in his commitment to resettle there,” the judge wrote.
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Xinis also rejected the government’s argument that she lacked jurisdiction to intervene on a final removal order for Abrego Garcia, because she found no final order had been filed.
DHS to challenge the order
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.
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.
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 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 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 administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish Abrego Garcia over the embarrassment of his mistaken deportation to El Salvador.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, leaves the Putnam County Jail, in Cookeville, Tenn. (AP Photo) 
