1 of 2 | Kilmar Abrego Garcia pictured in August before his check in at the ICE Field Office in Baltimore Md., Immigration Customs Enforcement officials sought to deport Abrego Garcia to Africa where he has no connection, despite his ongoing protection from removal to El Salvador. He was released Thursday from an ICE detention center after a federal judge’s ruling. File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI
Dec. 11 (UPI) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wrongfully deported Salvadoran immigrant, was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention Thursday following a federal judge’s order.
Garcia is facing U.S. charges by the Trump administration. His attorneys confirmed that he had been released by Thursday afternoon.
Immigration Customs Enforcement officials sought to deport Abrego Garcia to an African nation where he has no connection, despite his ongoing protection from removal to El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said that the Trump administration lacked the legal authority to continue holding Abrego Garcia in an ICE detention facility.
“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,” according to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.
The judge mandated his “immediate” release.
“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,” Xinis added.
The order cleared ICE to release Abrego Garcia, but he still must comply with pretrial conditions in an ongoing human smuggling case.
“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge,” a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wrote on social media.
DHS claimed the order “lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who illegally entered the U.S. almost 15 years ago and drew nationwide attention after his wrongful March deportation to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison despite a protective order.
He has accused the White House of vindictive prosecution.
It ignited controversy amid U.S. President Donald Trump‘s hardline immigration enforcement push.
The administration labeled him an MS-13 gang member, which he has denied.
“The history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary,” said Xinis.
With a standing order that prevents deportation to El Salvador, Trump administration officials pivoted to proposing an African destination.
“This evidently remained an inconvenient truth for respondents,” Xinis wrote.
“But more to the point, 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,” the judge wrote.
