A federal judge ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s “immediate release” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Thursday.
“Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, wrote in her opinion.
Xinis wrote that he “has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order.”
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – AUGUST 25: Kilmar Abrego Garcia enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member, was deported by mistake in March to El Salvador, the only country he could not be removed to, and returned to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee.
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