(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
A federal judge has ordered the president donald trump Ministry of Justice announced Guilma Abrego Garcia Protection from Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision.
Maryland District Judge Paula Sinise Directed Thursday’s “immediate” release of Abrego Garcia.
The ruling said immigration authorities repeatedly pushed for Abrego Garcia’s deportation even though they lacked the legal basis to do so.
“Since Abrego Garcia was wrongfully detained in El Salvador, he has been detained again without lawful authority,” the judge noted in his order, highlighting a pattern of detention that the court said was not supported by statute or procedure.
She also wrote that the government could not deport him without a valid deportation order, a fact that ICE officials struggled to explain at recent hearings.
The government viewed Abrego Garcia as a threat, accusing him of ties to the violent MS-13 gang, a charge he denied and resulted in his transfer to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison. He was deported despite an immigration judge denying him asylum in 2019 on technical grounds but barring his return to the country, where he and his family were allegedly threatened by gangs.
Salvadoran immigrants were deported to their country of birth in March, sparking outcry and rows within the courts. Government lawyers eventually acknowledged that he was removed from office due to procedural errors. A series of federal judges and the Supreme Court unanimously ordered officials to “facilitate” his return after his “unlawful” arrest.
Months later, in June, he was brought back to the United States only to be hit with new accusations that he was transporting other immigrants illegally, charges he denied. Government officials said he could be deported to Uganda after he refused to accept a deal to send him to Costa Rica.
In Thursday’s ruling, the judge detailed the whiplash diplomacy that followed as the government made removal requests from a range of countries.
“Respondent’s orchestrated efforts to get Costa Rica to ‘exit the negotiations’ backfired,” she wrote, noting that officials there reiterated their offer to provide him with refuge. She concluded that alternatives such as “Uganda, Swaziland, Ghana” were “never viable”.
Although a judge released him from pretrial detention, ICE arrested him again, reigniting a legal tug-of-war over whether he can stay in the country long enough to stand trial.
The latest order requires the government to tell Abrego Garcia the exact time and place of his release and provide the court with an update by 5 p.m. ET.
When he again leaves ICE custody, he will be supervised by the Office of Pretrial Services under conditions set forth in the criminal case. The ruling also solidified an earlier court order barring his deportation until his habeas corpus challenge is concluded.
This story is developing.
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