A federal judge announced on Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not allowed to detain Kilmer Abrego Garcia anymore since his 90-day period for detention has lapsed, and the government doesn’t have a feasible plan for his deportation.
The situation involving the Salvadoran national has sparked considerable debate around immigration, especially after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Since then, he has been contesting a second deportation attempt to various African nations suggested by officials from Homeland Security.
U.S. District Judge Paula Kisinis from Maryland stated in her ruling that the government had issued “a series of empty threats” regarding his deportation to African countries, lacking any real chance of success. The court concluded there is “no ‘sufficient reason to believe’ that removal is likely to occur in the near future.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin expressed her discontent with the ruling, saying in an email, “If this issue is indeed about law and due process, Kilmer Abrego Garcia has already been deported and will never set foot in this country again. Judge Kisinis will not be satisfied until he is allowed to live in the United States permanently.”
Abrego-Garcia has lived in Maryland for several years and has an American wife and children, though he entered the U.S. unlawfully as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge determined that he couldn’t be sent back to El Salvador due to threats from gangs against his family. However, a mistake led to his deportation there last year.
Due to public outcry and a court directive, the Trump administration reinstated him in June, but only after he was indicted on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he pleaded not guilty. Government officials have reiterated that he cannot stay in the U.S., stating intentions to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia.
In her order, Judge Kisinis mentioned that the government “willfully and without reason ignores a country that has consistently offered to accept Mr. Abrego-Garcia as a refugee and to which he has also agreed to go,” referring to Costa Rica.
His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, emphasized that immigration detention shouldn’t be used as punishment, arguing that individuals can only be detained to facilitate their deportation and not indefinitely without a proper plan in place.
In an email, Sandoval-Moshenberg pointed out that since the mid-December ruling favoring Abrego-Garcia’s release, the government has tried various methods to re-detain him. He remarked that if the government were serious about removing Abrego-Garcia from the U.S., it could have sent him to Costa Rica long ago.
Sandoval-Moshenberg urged the government to act in good faith to finalize deportation arrangements to Costa Rica.
