Trump Administration Cannot Detain Abrego Garcia Again, Federal Judge Says

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration cannot detain Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia again after the deadline for his detention period has expired.

“Respondents had not yet secured any travel documents necessary to effectuate Abrego Garcia’s third-country removal, despite their claims to be ‘working to get travel documents,’” U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis wrote in a 10-page filing.

“From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future,” Xinis added.

Xinis’ ruling criticized the Trump administration for having “disingenuously slow footed his return” after deporting Abrego Garcia to a notorious prison in El Salvador last year.

“If this matter were actually about the law or due process, Kilmar Abrego Garcia would already be deported and would never set foot in this country again,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Associated Press. “Judge Xinis will not be satisfied until he is authorized to live in the United States forever.”

A Maryland resident and father, Abrego Garcia became a face of the Trump administration’s aggressive mass deportation campaign. The Justice Department at the time of his deportation accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, pointing to his tattoos as evidence of gang ties, and sent him to El Salvador despite his legal status. Abrego Garcia has denied any gang involvement.

The Homeland Security Department ultimately facilitated Abrego Garcia’s release in June after months in El Salvador’s infamous CECOT mega-prison. Upon his release, the DOJ quickly charged Abrego Garcia with “human smuggling” and offered deportation to Costa Rica if he accepted a plea deal. He later accepted the deal after being threatened with deportation to Uganda or Libya.

In her Tuesday ruling, Xinis wrote that the administration “purposely — and for no reason — ignored the one country that has consistently offered to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee, and to which he agrees to go.”

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, celebrated the ruling Tuesday in a message sent to The Washington Post.

“Since Judge Xinis ordered Mr. Abrego Garcia released in mid-December, the government has tried one trick after another to try to get him re-detained,” Sandoval-Moshenberg emailed the newspaper. “In her decision today, she recognized that if the government were truly trying to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the United States, they would have sent him to Costa Rica long before today.”