BALTIMORE, Md. (Diya TV) — A federal judge has blocked immigration officials from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident whose case has become a national flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The late-night court ruling came just hours after Judge Paula Xinis ordered his release from federal custody, marking another major turn in a long and complex legal battle.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed an emergency request overnight, warning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement planned to arrest him again during a scheduled check-in on Friday morning. Judge Xinis granted the request early Friday, ruling that any new detention would cause “irreparable harm.” Her order temporarily shields Abrego Garcia from being taken back into custody.
The judge’s decision came after she ruled Thursday that the government lacked a valid removal order for Abrego Garcia. Without one, she said, officials cannot deport him or hold him for that purpose. She wrote that his removal is not “reasonably foreseeable” and that continued detention would violate due process.
Abrego Garcia, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador as a teenager, has lived in Maryland for years with his American wife and children. His case drew public attention after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 court order blocking his removal. The Supreme Court later ordered the government to return him to the United States.
The administration has alleged that Abrego Garcia was involved with MS-13, which he denies. A judge previously granted him protection from deportation based on threats from gangs in El Salvador.
After being returned to the U.S. in June, Abrego Garcia was transferred to Tennessee to face human smuggling charges. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. But immigration officials arrested him again in August after calling him to a mandatory meeting in Baltimore.
In her 31-page ruling, Judge Xinis criticized the government’s handling of the case. She said officials attempted to send Abrego Garcia to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and later Liberia, even though none of the countries had agreed to accept him. She wrote that these locations were never “viable options.” Costa Rica, she noted, offered to take Abrego Garcia and provide refugee status or residency. But the U.S. government did not pursue that option.
The judge said immigration detention cannot be used as punishment or allowed to continue without a realistic chance of removal. She found that Abrego Garcia’s near-continuous confinement since March violated the principles set out in a key 2001 Supreme Court decision that limits indefinite detention.
The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized Judge Xinis’s decision. Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called it “naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge” and said the agency will continue to fight the ruling in court. The Justice Department is expected to appeal. Federal prosecutors are also moving forward with the human smuggling case in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia is scheduled to stand trial in January.
Abrego Garcia returned to his Maryland home Thursday night after being released from a detention center in Pennsylvania. Standing outside the Baltimore ICE office Friday morning, he told supporters he planned to continue fighting his case. “I stand before you a free man,” he said through a translator. He added that he believes the legal system will correct the wrongs he says he has suffered.
His legal team says they remain concerned that the government may continue efforts to detain or deport him. For now, Judge Xinis’s order keeps him free while both sides prepare for further court hearings.
