A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has been at the center of the Trump administration’s deportation battles, from custody.
“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said in an opinion on Dec. 11.
Her order requires Abrego Garcia’s immediate release and for the administration to notify the court of his status by 5 p.m.
The administration had indicated it would remove Abrego Garcia to an African country, while Costa Rica had offered to take him as a refugee. But without a removal order, Xinis said, the administration couldn’t deport him to a “third country” or one other than his home country of El Salvador….