Kilmar Abrego Garcia freed from immigration detention on judges order returns to Maryland home

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was freed from immigration detention on a judge’s order Thursday while he fights to stay in the US, handing a major victory to the immigrant whose wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador made him a flashpoint of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to let Abrego Garcia go immediately, writing that federal authorities had detained him again after his return to the United States without any legal basis.Abrego Garcia returned to his home in Maryland wearing a white shirt and orange hat hours after his release at 5 p.m., the deadline the judge gave the government for an update on Abrego Garcia’s release.He’s lived for years in Maryland, where he has an American wife and child, since originally immigrating to the US illegally as a teenager.Abrego Garcia had been held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said he’s not sure what comes next, but he’s prepared to defend his client against further deportation efforts.“The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding he fully expects the government to again take steps to deport his client.

“We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized the judge’s decision and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed during the Obama administration.“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.Sandoval-Moshenberg said the judge made it clear that the government can’t detain someone indefinitely without legal authority and that his client “has endured more than anyone sho...