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By Daniel Orton
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A federal judge has temporarily barred U.S. immigration authorities from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man whose case became a focal point in debates over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order Friday morning, just hours after Abrego Garcia was released from a Pennsylvania detention facility. The ruling came as Abrego Garcia arrived for a routine check-in at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office, where his attorneys feared he could be taken into custody again.
Officials cannot detain Abrego Garcia again until the court holds a hearing at his lawyers' request for a temporary restraining order, according to Xinis’ ruling.
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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the decision as "naked judicial activism" in an email to Newsweek.
“This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” she added.
The ruling follows months of litigation after Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador and jailed in a notorious prison despite having been granted protection from deportation by an immigration judge in 2019.
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Why It Matters
The case highlights ongoing disputes over the limits of federal authority in deportation cases and the broader implications of immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who has lived in Maryland for years with his U.S. citizen wife and child, has become a symbol for immigrant rights activists pushing back against what they describe as retaliatory deportation tactics.
His lawyers argue that ICE is continuing to pursue deportation not based on legal grounds but as retribution for public embarrassment following his removal and subsequent return.
“This is a country of laws and I believe that this injustice will come to an end,” Abrego Garcia said Friday during a press conference outside the ICE field office, where supporters chanted “We are all Kilmar.”
What To Know
Abrego Garcia entered the United States as a teenager to join his brother, a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge determined that he had a “well-founded fear” of persecution in El Salvador, where gang members had targeted his family. Though he was allowed to remain in the country under supervision, he was never granted permanent residency.
Earlier this year, ICE deported him, and he was imprisoned in El Salvador despite no criminal record. He was returned to the U.S. in June after the Trump administration complied with a court order, but only after federal prosecutors charged him with human smuggling in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is seeking to have them dismissed.
ICE released Abrego Garcia from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center late Thursday, just before a deadline set by Xinis to explain his detention. Within hours, he returned to Maryland and appeared at the Friday check-in appointment.
Check-ins are part of ICE’s process to monitor immigrants allowed to remain in the U.S. while pursuing legal relief, including asylum. In recent years, advocates say, such appointments have increasingly led to surprise detentions, particularly during President Donald Trump’s second term.
What People Are Saying
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, through a translator: “I stand before you a free man and I want you to remember me this way, with my head held up high...I come here today with so much hope and I thank God who has been with me since the start with my family.
“I will continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me. Regardless of this administration, I believe this is a country of laws.”
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia's attorney: “The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve...We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”
What Happens Next
Abrego Garcia has a pending asylum application in immigration court and continues to face criminal charges in Tennessee, where prosecutors allege he was involved in human smuggling following a 2022 traffic stop. Body camera footage from the incident showed a calm exchange with law enforcement, which initially let him go with a warning.
A DHS agent acknowledged that the smuggling investigation did not begin until after the U.S. Supreme Court compelled the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador.
A federal judge will soon consider motions related to his asylum case and the Tennessee charges while also evaluating the legality of further attempts by ICE to deport him to countries other than El Salvador.
This article contains reporting by The Associated Press
Update 12/12/25, 9:58 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and comment from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
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