A federal judge extended a pause barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining Salvadoran National and illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, meaning he will not be in federal immigration custody over the Christmas holiday.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said Monday she would continue to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining Abrego Garcia for now as she considers whether to dissolve the halt she imposed against the Trump administration. The federal judge has been highly skeptical, and at times critical, of the Justice Department’s presentations to her regarding Abrego Garcia’s deportation status.
“I am trying to get to the bottom of whether there are going to be any removal proceedings,” Xinis said to a DOJ lawyer during Monday’s hearing, according to the Associated Press. “You haven’t told me what you’re going to do next.”
Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, released Abrego Garcia from immigration detention earlier this month, after claiming the government had not obtained a removal order to deport him. Shortly after Xinis issued her order, the Trump administration got a final removal order for Abrego Garcia from an immigration judge, fixing the discrepancy, but Xinis still halted ICE from detaining him pending Monday’s hearing.
The hearing on Monday was the latest part of a nearly yearlong saga over the deportation of Abrego Garcia, which first garnered national headlines earlier this year. The Salvadoran national was deported to his native El Salvador in March, despite having a withholding of removal order barring him from being deported to El Salvador, but allowing deportation to any other country.
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After Xinis, an appeals court, and the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, he was brought back in June to face criminal human smuggling charges. He was released from pretrial custody in August and was rearrested by federal immigration officers days later. Abrego Garcia had been in federal immigration custody until Dec. 11, when Xinis ordered him released.
While the withholding of the removal order remains in place, federal immigration officials have searched for another country to deport Abrego Garcia to. The DOJ has floated several potential countries in court filings, including Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia, while Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have pointed to Costa Rica, a country they said has agreed to take him, as the illegal immigrant’s preferred country.
