Kilmar Abrego Garcia Released Following Judge’s Order

A federal judge is blocking U.S. immigration officials from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the illegal alien was ordered released.  

Abrego Garcia appeared for a scheduled Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday morning, but immigration officials were blocked from re-detaining him due to a judge’s order.  

The order comes after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland granted Abrego Garcia’s petition for release from immigration authorities on Thursday.  

“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,” the judge wrote in her ruling.  

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys asked the judge to block immigration authorities from re-detaining the Salvadoran national until the court holds another hearing considering the temporary restraining order his attorneys have filed.  

“For the public to have any faith in the orderly administration of justice, the Court’s narrowly crafted remedy cannot be so quickly and easily upended without further briefing and consideration,” Xinis wrote.  

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the judge’s order “naked judicial activism by an [President Barack] Obama appointed judge.”  

“This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” McLaughlin pledged.  

Before his scheduled immigration check-in at the courthouse, Abrego Garcia addressed a crowd of supporters outside.   

“I stand before you as a free man, and I want you to remember me this way, with my head held up high,” Abrego Garcia said in Spanish. “I stand here today with my head held up high, and I will continue to fight and stand firm against all the injustices this government has done upon me.” 

Abrego Garcia’s case has become a flashpoint in the immigration enforcement debate between Democrats and the Trump administration.  

The illegal alien was living in Maryland until the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador in March. The Trump administration initially said he was removed due to an “administrative error,” but later said that was an inaccurate claim.  

After a legal battle and outcry from Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveling to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia and demand his release, the illegal alien was brought back to the U.S. in June after a court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return.   

Abrego Garcia was released from criminal custody in Tennessee in August and returned to Maryland where he was then taken into immigration custody. A judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting Abrego Garcia a second time.  

A March 2019 report from DHS reports that Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and crossed into the U.S. illegally near McAllen, Texas, in March 2012. The same DHS form states that “Abrego Garcia was validated as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Gang.”    

In 2021, Abrego Garcia’s wife filed domestic violence allegations against her husband.   

During a traffic stop in Tennessee in November 2022, authorities suspected Abrego Garcia of human smuggling. Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with eight additional men in the car. He claimed they were traveling for work, but there was no luggage in the vehicle.   

The Trump administration is appealing the judge’s Thursday decision to release Abrego Garcia from immigration custody.  

“The White House, the administration oppose this activism from a judge who is really acting as a judicial activist, which we’ve unfortunately seen in many cases across the country,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Thursday press briefing.  

“Abrego Garcia is present in our country illegally,” Leavitt continued, “he is a proven human trafficker, he is a proven gang member, the administration has evidence of that.” 

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