BALTIMORE — A federal district court judge in Maryland has ordered ICE to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from detention.
Judge Paula Xinis said in her Thursday order that "since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.”
Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, slammed Xinis and her ruling, vowing to appeal.
"This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge," McLaughlin posted on X. "This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts."
The Trump Administration previously told the court in October that it planned to deport Garcia to Liberia.
He's been held by ICE since being released from a federal prison in Tennessee for a pending human smuggling case.
A federal judge there ordered his pre-trial release, and has allowed Garcia's attorneys to pursue whether his prosecution was politically targeted.
An immigration judge, however, recently refused to reopen Garcia's asylum claim, clearing the way for the feds to deport him.
Garcia's defense team said their client was offered deportation to Costa Rica, where the country agreed to provide amnesty, but the U.S. said they would only allow that if he pleaded guilty to the federal charges in Tennessee.
When Garcia refused that offer, the U.S. threatened to send him to various African countries, including Uganda or Eswatini, both of whom refused.
One place Garcia cannot be sent to is his native country of El Salvador, because that's what prompted this whole case to begin with.
Back in March the U.S. deported Garcia to El Salvador where he was temporarily held in a maximum security prison despite a 2019 immigration court's order prohibiting it, due to potential safety concerns.
Courts ordered Garcia to be returned to the U.S., yet, the feds balked until they were able to build a case and file charges.
The feds have long painted Abrego-Garcia as a wife beating, MS-13 gang member, involved in human trafficking.
Garcia has denied all allegations.
