Kilmar Abrego Garcia has pledged to continue his fight against the Trump administration after a judge ordered his release from federal immigration custody on Thursday.
Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, returned to his home in Maryland yesterday after a judge ruled in favor of his habeas corpus petition seeking release from custody.
Highlights
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite a legal order barring his removal due to persecution risks.
- A federal judge ordered Garcia's release, ruling the Trump administration lacked a valid removal order to detain him.
- Garcia vowed to continue fighting government injustices while addressing supporters after being freed from custody.
As part of his release, he was ordered to check in at an ICE field office in Baltimore at 8 a.m. on Friday, sparking concerns he could be detained again.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia addressed a crowd as he attended an ICE check-in
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Abrego Garcia was arrested by ICE during one such check-in earlier this year after his release from pretrial detention.
As he arrived for that check-in on Friday, Abrego Garcia addressed a crowd that had gathered to support him.
He told the crowd he stood before them with his head held high and vowed to “continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me.”
“I stand before you as a free man and I want you to remember me this way, with my head held up high,” he said through a translator.
“Yesterday I spent time and celebrated and enjoyed my family, who is everything for me, especially so close to Christmas and being in this holiday season,” Garcia added.
“I want to tell everybody who is also suffering family separation: God is with you. This is a process. Keep fighting.”
He concluded, “Keep fighting, do not give up. I wish all of you love and justice. Keep going.”
It comes as U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said the Trump administration had detained Abrego Garcia without having obtained a removal order for him.
“Because respondents have no statutory authority to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country absent a removal order, his removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process,” Xinis wrote in Thursday's order.
“Although respondents may eventually get it right, they have not as of today,” the judge added. “Thus, Abrego Garcia's detention for the stated purpose of third country removal cannot continue.
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“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.”
White House officials have slammed the decision, and the administration is expected to appeal.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a social media post, “This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge. This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”
Abrego Garcia’s case sparked a political firestorm earlier this year after he was deported to the notorious CECOT mega prison in March, despite a legal order.
Abrego Garcia had been living in the U.S. for over a decade and was detained in Baltimore before being transferred to a Texas facility in March.
Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year
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Within days, he was flown to El Salvador and placed in the notorious CECOT prison while his loved ones and elected officials fought to have him returned to the U.S.
A U.S. immigration judge had barred Abrego Garcia from being deported back to his home country because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs who had terrorized him and his family.
While the Trump administration initially called his deportation an “administrative error,” it doubled down on claims that Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang.
Abrego Garcia, his wife, and his lawyers have denied these claims.
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Abrego Garcia has not been convicted of any crime, and BBC Verify found that there is no conclusive evidence proving he is an MS-13 gang member.
Authorities initially resisted calls for him to be brought back to the U.S., but after widespread legal pressure, he was returned in June to face federal smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to those charges, and a Tennessee judge approved his release on bail while he awaited a criminal trial scheduled for January.
Despite that ruling, he remained behind bars for several weeks, as his attorneys warned that federal immigration agents could immediately detain and deport him once he was freed.
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In August, he was released and returned to Maryland.
But just days later, during a check-in at a Baltimore ICE facility, he was arrested by immigration agents, and the Trump administration told his lawyers he could be sent to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia has said he fears persecution and torture there, and worries Ugandan officials could ultimately send him back to El Salvador.
Since then, the Trump administration has been trying to deport him to another country, but several countries have rejected pleas to accept him.