BALTIMORE — Baltimore (AFP) – Kelmar Abrego Garcia He was scheduled to check in with immigration authorities on Friday, about 14 hours later Release him From arrest by order of the judge.
Abrego Garcia It became a flashpoint Because of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration crackdown earlier this year when he was wrongly deported to the United States Notorious prison In El Salvador. It was the last He was detained in August During a similar check-in.
He is scheduled to appear in the morning at the ICE field office in Baltimore.
The agency released him shortly before 5 p.m. on Thursday in response to a ruling by US District Judge Paula Shenis in Maryland, who wrote that federal authorities detained him after his return to the United States without any legal basis.
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child He lived in Maryland For years. He immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become an American citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to his home country, where he faces the threat of a gang that targeted his family.
While he was allowed to live and work in the United States under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was not granted residency status. Earlier this year, it was He was deported by mistake And held in An extremely brutal Salvadoran prison Although there is no criminal record.
Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, the Republican Trump administration She brought him back to the United States In June, but only after an arrest warrant was issued on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. I have He pleaded not guilty For those charges, he asked the federal judge there to dismiss them.
The 2019 settlement found he had a “well-founded fear” of danger in El Salvador if he were deported there. So instead ICE is seeking to deport him to A African countries series. Abrego Garcia filed a lawsuit, claiming that the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him for the public embarrassment caused by his deportation.
In ordering Abrego Garcia’s release, Shenis wrote that federal authorities “not only obstructed” the court, but “certainly misled the court.” Shenis also rejected the government’s argument that it did not have jurisdiction to intervene in Abrigo Garcia’s final removal order, because she found that no final order had been made.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Abrego Garcia from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, on Thursday, ahead of a deadline given by Shenis for the government to provide an update on Abrego Garcia’s release.
He returned home to Maryland a few hours later.
Check-ins It’s how ICE tracks some people released by the government to pursue asylum claims or other immigration issues as they make their way through A backlogged judicial system. Appointments used to be routine, but they are many People were arrested Checking in since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Sandoval Mochenberg said he was prepared to defend his client against further deportation efforts.
“The government still has a lot of tools up its sleeve, a lot of tricks up its sleeve,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding that he fully expects the government will once again take steps to deport his client. “We will be there to fight to ensure a fair trial.”
The Department of Homeland Security strongly criticized Shenis’s order and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed under the Obama administration.
“This matter lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this matter vigorously in the courts,” said Assistant Secretary of State Tricia McLaughlin.
Sandoval-Moshenberg said the judge made clear that the government cannot detain someone indefinitely without legal authority and that his client “has endured more than any person should endure.”
Abrego Garcia has also I applied for asylum In the United States in immigration court.
Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling charges when the United States government returned him from El Salvador. Prosecutors alleged that he accepted money to transport people within the United States who were in the country illegally.
The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage From a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer showing a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed suspicions of smuggling among themselves. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
A DHS agent testified at an earlier hearing that he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until afterward The US Supreme Court said In April, the Trump administration should act to reinstate Abrego Garcia.