Overview
- U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia released immediately and wrote that ICE re-detained him without lawful authority.
- Xinis later barred officials from re-detaining him pending a hearing on a requested temporary restraining order.
- The Department of Homeland Security denounced the ruling as “naked judicial activism” and said it will challenge the orders in court.
- The judge found no final removal order exists while noting ICE sought third‑country removals, including to Liberia, Eswatini, Ghana and Uganda, despite a 2019 decision protecting him from return to El Salvador.
- After courts forced his return from a wrongful March deportation, he was charged in Tennessee with human smuggling, has pleaded not guilty, and a judge has found some evidence the prosecution may be vindictive.