A federal judge on Thursday ordered immigration officials to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia immediately, handing him a major legal victory and delivering a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration.
“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in her 31-page opinion.
Xinis criticized the government’s handling of the case, adding, “Separately, Respondents’ conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer.”
The judge demanded that ICE provide an update on his release by 5 p.m. EST, underscoring the urgency of her ruling.
Abrego Garcia remains under pre-trial release conditions in his criminal human smuggling case, which include electronic monitoring at his Maryland home, third-party custodianship, and other measures to ensure he appears in court.
“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X. “This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
The Salvadoran national first drew national attention after he was mistakenly deported in March to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, despite a standing order protecting him from deportation due to credible fears of violence. His case became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Authorities have accused him of being affiliated with the MS-13 gang, claims he denies.
After the Supreme Court intervened, Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. in June as the Justice Department unsealed a human smuggling indictment in Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty, and after being released pending trial in Tennessee, he returned to Maryland—where ICE immediately took him back into custody.
With deportation to El Salvador barred, the Trump administration began proposing African countries including Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia, none of which had agreed to accept him. Abrego Garcia argued he should be sent to Costa Rica, but the administration claimed the country would not take him.
Judge Xinis found that claim false, writing that the Trump administration “affirmatively misled the tribunal” by suggesting otherwise. She continued, “This evidently remained an inconvenient truth for Respondents.”
She further noted, “Respondents’ persistent refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option, their threats to send Abrego Garcia to African countries that never agreed to take him, and their misrepresentation to the Court that Liberia is now the only country available to Abrego Garcia, all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal.”
Thursday’s ruling underscores the limits of the administration’s immigration enforcement when legal protections collide with detention practices and marks a significant win for Abrego Garcia in his fight to regain control over his fate.
