A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said in her order on Thursday that “since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.”
Xinis said that the absence of a removal order prevents the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the U.S.
Earlier this month, government asked Xinis to dissolve a ban on Abrego Garcia’s removal to Liberia, saying it had received assurances from the Liberian government that he will not be persecuted or tortured should he be deported there.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
Judge Xinis, the judge in Abrego Garcia’s immigration case, in August blocked the government from removing him from the United States until the habeas case challenging his removal was resolved in court.
