What to know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from immigration custody

BALTIMORE– Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose erroneous deportation helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, was released Thursday and a judge temporarily blocked any attempt to detain him.

Abrego Garcia currently cannot be deported to his home country of El Salvador, thanks to a 2019 immigration court order that found he had a “well-founded fear” of danger there. However, the Trump administration said he could not stay in the United States. In recent months, government officials have announced they will deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and, most recently, Liberia.

Abrego Garcia is fighting his deportation in federal court in Maryland, where his lawyers say the administration is manipulating the immigration system to punish him for successfully challenging his earlier deportation.

Here’s what you need to know about the latest developments in the case:

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become an American citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to his home country.

Although he was allowed to live and work in the United States under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was not granted resident status. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, despite an earlier court order.

When Abrego Garcia was deported in March, he was being held in a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record.

The Trump administration initially fought efforts to bring him back to the United States, but ultimately acceded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. He returned to the United States in June, only to face an arrest warrant for human trafficking in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia was held in a Tennessee prison for more than two months before being released on Friday, August 22, to await trial in Maryland on house arrest.

His freedom lasted a weekend. The following Monday, he showed up at the Baltimore immigration office for check-in and was immediately taken into custody. Authorities announced plans to deport him to a series of African countries, but those steps were blocked by an order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland.

On Thursday, after months of legal proceedings and hearings, Xinis ruled that Abrego Garcia should be released immediately. His decision was based on what was likely a procedural error by the immigration judge who heard his case in 2019.

Normally, in a case like this, an immigration judge will first issue a deportation order. Then the judge will essentially freeze that order by issuing a “deportation hold” order, according to Memphis immigration attorney Andrew Rankin.

In the case of Abrego Garcia, the judge refused deportation to El Salvador because he believed that Abrego Garcia’s life could be in danger there. However, the judge never took the first step of issuing an eviction order. The government argued in Xinis court that the deportation order could be deducted, but the judge disagreed.

Without a final order of expulsion, Abrego Garcia cannot be deported, Xinis ruled.

The only way to get a removal order is to go back to immigration court and ask for one, Rankin said. But reopening the immigration case is a gamble because Abrego Garcia’s lawyers would likely seek protection from deportation in the form of asylum or some other type of relief.

The problem is that immigration courts are officially part of the executive branch, and their judges are generally not considered as independent as federal judges.

“There might be independence in some areas, but if the administration wants a certain outcome, it seems like they’re going to put pressure on individuals to get that outcome,” Rankin said. “I hope he gets a fair rescue and two attorneys make arguments — someone wins, someone loses — instead of handing him off to an immigration judge with a 95 percent denial rate, where everyone knows how it’s going to turn out.”

Alternatively, the government could appeal Xinis’ order to the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals and try to have its ruling overturned, Rankin said. If the appeals court agreed with the government that the final deportation order was implied, it might not be necessary to reopen the immigration case.

Pursuant to Xinis’ order, Abrego Garcia was released Thursday evening from his immigration detention center in Pennsylvania and allowed to return home for the first time in months. However, he was also asked to report to an immigration agent in Baltimore early the next morning.

Fearing he would be detained again, his lawyers asked Xinis for a temporary restraining order. Xinis filed the order early Friday morning. It prohibits immigration officials from returning Abrego Garcia to detention, at least for now. A hearing on the matter could take place as early as next week.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case in which he is charged with human trafficking and conspiracy to commit human trafficking.

Prosecutors say he accepted money to transport people within the United States who were in the country illegally. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer’s body camera shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car and the officers discussed their suspicions of contraband among themselves. However, Abrego Garcia was ultimately allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

Abrego Garcia asked U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw to dismiss the smuggling charges on the grounds of “selective or vindictive prosecution.”

Crenshaw previously found “evidence that the case against him may be vindictive” and said many statements from Trump administration officials “raise concern.” Crenshaw specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on a Fox News Channel show that appeared to suggest the Justice Department indicted Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful eviction case.

Both sides are arguing over whether top Justice Department officials, including Blanche, could be forced to testify in the case.