US federal judge orders ICE not to rearrest Kilmar Abrego Garcia News
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US federal judge orders ICE not to rearrest Kilmar Abrego Garcia

US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again, pending further hearings. The TRO came only a few hours after Judge Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from ICE custody in Pennsylvania.

In the TRO, Judge Xinis wrote, “Abrego Garcia will suffer irreparable harm absent emergency relief. It is beyond dispute that unlawful detention visits irreparable harm.” She added: “Because respondents have no statutory authority to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country absent a removal order, his removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process.”

Abrego Garcia was scheduled to check in with ICE in Baltimore on Friday morning.  His attorneys petitioned Judge Xinis for the TRO because they expected ICE to rearrest him at the check-in.

Abrego Garcia stated through a translator on Friday:

I stand here today with my head held up high, and 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, and I believe that this injustice will come to an end.

His lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, added that the TRO was a “huge relief” for Abrego Garcia and his family.

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), replied on X by calling the order “naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge.” She stated: “This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case has had an extensive history this year, beginning with his detention and deportation to El Salvador in March.  The US Supreme Court ordered his return to the US in April, but President Donald Trump claimed that the US lacked the authority to do so. Abrego Garcia has been indicted for human trafficking and accused of being a member of the gang MS-13, both of which he denies. He has also filed suit against the government, claiming unlawful detention. In August, a federal judge dismissed a suit filed by President Trump accusing all 15 Maryland-based federal judges of issuing illegal orders in immigration cases. In October, DHS announced a plan to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia.

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