Judge orders ICE to release Salvadoran man held for months without removal order

A Maryland judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 34-year-old from El Salvador who has spent months in detention despite having no valid deportation order against him.

Abrego Garcia's case has become a flashpoint in debates over immigration enforcement. He was arrested in August and held in ICE custody while navigating a labyrinth of legal proceedings. What makes his detention particularly striking: the government repeatedly attempted to deport him to countries in Africa where he had no connection, even as he expressed willingness to leave the United States voluntarily for Costa Rica.

Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland District Court found the government's conduct indefensible. In her ruling, she noted that ICE had no "final removal order" — the legal foundation required to hold someone in immigration detention. "Respondents' conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal," Xinis wrote, ordering his release.

The case also involved a troubling detour: in spring, Abrego Garcia was mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador, contrary to a judge's explicit order. The government later brought him back to the U.S., only to detain him again on human smuggling charges, which he has pleaded not guilty to.

Abrego Garcia's release comes with conditions tied to the pending criminal charges in Tennessee, meaning his legal battles are far from over. But the judge's decision reflects a growing pushback against indefinite detention without clear legal justification — a practice that immigration advocates say has become routine in the U.S. system.

The ruling doesn't resolve the broader questions his case raises about how immigration enforcement operates when legal authority is thin. But for Abrego Garcia, it means he won't spend additional months locked up while the system sorts itself out.