New Twist In Deportation Battle Over Dem-Backed Accused MS-13 Member

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can’t rearrest accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying the federal government has no plan for his deportation.

United States District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in her latest order on Tuesday that the federal government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” adding that “From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

In her latest order, Xinis said that the federal government has “purposely—and for no reason—ignored the one country that has consistently offered to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee, and to which he agrees to go,” in reference to Costa Rica, which offered to accept him.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, argued that ICE detention is not meant to be punitive and is only for those who are to be deported imminently, according to the Associated Press. Xinis also said in her order that a 90-day detention period had expired.

“Since Judge Xinis ordered Mr. Abrego Garcia released in mid-December, the government has tried one trick after another to try to get him re-detained,” Sandoval-Moshenberg wrote in an email on Tuesday, according to the AP. “In her decision today, she recognized that if the government were truly trying to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the United States, they would have sent him to Costa Rica long before today.”

The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia in March to his native country of El Salvador, which was a result of an “administrative error.” Federal authorities brought Abrego Garcia back to the United States in June on human smuggling charges that stemmed from a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop, where the Salvadoran national was pulled over while hauling eight other passengers.

Despite having traveled for days from Texas on their way to Maryland, the group had no luggage in the car, sparking suspicion among responding officers, with one noting it could be “a human trafficking incident.”

Authorities let the group go and issued a citation against Abrego Garcia for driving with an expired license.

Abrego Garcia’s case has become a main talking point of Democratic lawmakers fighting President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign. While he was briefly detained in El Salvador, Abrego Garcia got a visit from Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has advocated for his innocence.

In December, Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from an ICE detention center in Pennsylvania, claiming the federal government had no legal grounds to hold him.

Abrego Garcia entered the United States illegally in 2011.

The alleged human smuggler was also tagged as a member of the notoriously brutal Salvadoran gang MS-13 in a 2019 Maryland police report and a 2018 court filing.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, who has since emerged as one of his most vocal advocates, twice accused him of beating her.