A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who was returned from El Salvador after being wrongly deported earlier this year.
“Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in the memorandum ordering Garcia’s release.
Abrego Garcia was taken into custody in Maryland in March and deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order, which barred his deportation to his home country based on a finding that he had a credible fear of persecution if returned.
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States in June to face human smuggling charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The Trump administration has since petitioned the court for permission to deport Garcia to Liberia after confirming with the country’s government that he would not face persecution. After being released to the custody of his brother pending trial, Garcia was again arrested by immigration authorities and is now being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
The Department of Homeland Security claims that Abrego Garcia was connected to and working with MS-13 when he was arrested with two other members of the gang, though they have not presented evidence to substantiate that claim in court and have instead relied on police reports from his arrest that indicate he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, which they claim is standard attire for members of MS-13. They also cite the testimony of an unidentified, uncorroborated informant whom they have never produced for in-person testimony.
Garcia has never been charged with participating in gang activities; instead, DHS presented what they say is evidence of his gang involvement while arguing that he should be denied bail during immigration proceedings.
When Abrego Garcia was previously granted permission to stay in the U.S., his lawyers argued it was because he feared credible persecution from Barrio-18, MS-13’s rival gang in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia’s wife previously filed for a protection order against him, claiming he had assaulted her. She eventually stopped pursuing the order.
In 2022, Abrego Garcia was pulled over in a traffic stop, and police officers found eight other passengers in the car, all without luggage. A Tennessee highway patrol officer detained Abrego Garcia on suspicion of human trafficking.
The Department of Justice previously said Abrego Garcia’s deportation is “in the public interest.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Department of Homeland Security has not established in court that Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang.