US court orders immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention
The case now stands as a pointed emblem of Trump era immigration clampdown, with officials branding him threat to public safety while critics argue drive to remove millions has eroded core legal rights.
A US judge has ordered Kilmar Abrego, whose wrongful deportation became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, released from immigration detention as he awaits a potential second deportation.
The order from US District Judge Paula Xinis on Thursday means that Abrego will at least temporarily be allowed to return to his Maryland home despite repeated declarations from Trump administration officials that he would never again be free in the US.
The judge’s decision to free Abrego marked the latest major development in a saga that began in March when Abrego was wrongfully deported to a prison in his native El Salvador and then brought back to the US in June to face human smuggling charges.
His case has become a symbol of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration clampdown, with Trump officials portraying Abrego as a danger to public safety and critics accusing the administration of trampling legal rights in its bid to deport millions living illegally in the US.
Pointed emblem
Abrego, 30, has been held in immigration detention since August, when immigration authorities arrested him shortly after being released from custody in his criminal case.
Judge Xinis found that he was entitled to release in part because an immigration judge had not issued a formal deportation order in 2019, when he was barred from being deported to El Salvador because of a risk of gang persecution.
Abrego was brought back to the US in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
In August, the judge blocked the government from removing him from the United States until the habeas case challenging his removal was resolved in court.