A federal judge in Maryland ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Ábrego García from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, after determining that he was detained again without legal authorization after his return from El Salvador.
Key data
In an order filed Thursday, District Court Judge Paula Xinis stated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had not filed a lawful deportation order, adding that it appears the agency was not holding Ábrego García for the express purpose of deporting him to a third country.
Xinis ordered Ábrego García’s immediate release from ICE custody and stated that the U.S. Office of Pretrial Services would notify him of the conditions of his release prior to his federal criminal trial for human trafficking in Tennessee.
In a statement to Forbes, Homeland Security Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin called the order “blatant judicial activism” that “lacks valid legal basis” and said the department would challenge it in court.
Ábrego García’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
You may be interested: While Trump does not reach his goal of deportations, ICE pressures migrants to abandon their cases
Crucial ideals
“Even if Ábrego García could have been lawfully deported to a third country, Defendants do not appear to have compelled him to serve that purpose,” Xinis wrote in Thursday’s ruling. “If they had wanted to deport him, they certainly could have done so starting August 21, 2025, to Costa Rica.”
Xinis also noted that DHS informed Ábrego García that he could be deported to one of several African countries, including Ghana, Eswatini and Uganda, but “none of these countries were a viable option, and at least two of them had not even been asked to accept Ábrego García before Defendants claimed his alleged deportation from each of them.”
Key context
Ábrego García was deported to El Salvador in March, where he remained imprisoned in the infamous CECOT prison. Shortly after his deportation, Department of Homeland Security lawyers admitted that his deportation was due to an “administrative error,” triggering a months-long legal battle for his return to the United States.
Ábrego García was eventually returned to the United States after being indicted on federal charges related to an alleged human trafficking operation.
After being released from prison in Tennessee, he briefly returned to his family in Maryland before being detained again by ICE.
The Trump administration repeatedly defended moves to deport and detain Ábrego García, at one point linking the tattoos on his hands to the Salvadoran gang MS-13.
This article was originally published in Forbes US
Subscribe to Forbes Mexico
