Kilmar Ábrego García has been freed from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania after a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release today.
Ábrego was released shortly before 5:00 p.m. ET, his attorney told the Associated Press. He plans to return to Maryland, where he has lived for many years with his US citizen wife and child after first entering the country illegally as a teenager.
His lawyer added that he does not yet know what will happen next but is ready to continue fighting any additional deportation attempts on his client’s behalf.
The Maryland judge’s decision followed a habeas petition filed by Ábrego and his legal team, arguing that the federal government lacked authority to keep him in custody because no final deportation order had been issued. The ruling marks a significant legal win for Ábrego, whose previous wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador turned him into a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly condemned the judge’s decision and announced plans to appeal, labeling the ruling as “naked judicial activism.”
The case of Ábrego, a Salvadorian national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.
Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Ábrego, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes. His attorneys have denounced the criminal charges. Ábrego has said that, while imprisoned in El Salvador, he endured beatings, sleep deprivation and psychological torture.
US district judge Paula Xinis stated in her order today: “Since Ábrego García’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been redetained, again without lawful authority.”
Xinis indicated the lack of a valid removal order means the government cannot legally deport Ábrego from the US.
Earlier in the month, federal prosecutors asked the Maryland judge overseeing Ábrego’s immigration case to lift the restriction on deporting him to Liberia. They said Liberia had provided assurances that he would not face persecution or torture there.
Ábrego was deported in March to an El Salvador mega-prison. The deportation happened despite a 2019 court ruling that prohibited his deportation to El Salvador due to credible fears of persecution.
His mistaken deportation to the prison in March set off a prominent legal fight over his return – emblematic of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies.
Government lawyers later acknowledged that his removal resulted from a procedural mistake. Multiple federal judges and a unanimous supreme court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return after determining his arrest was “illegal.”
In June, Ábrego was brought back to the US to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, where he entered a not guilty plea. Since then, the Trump administration has sought to deport him to several nations, including Ghana, Liberia, and Uganda.
After being released to his brother’s custody in Maryland while awaiting trial, he was again taken into custody by immigration officials and was detained in Pennsylvania.
In August, Xinis issued an order preventing his immediate removal from the US.