The Saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia Ought To Be Over

Dec 18, 2025 05:51 PM EST, Thu

Judge orders ICE not to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia at his check-in

The order, issued just before Abrego Garcia’s scheduled appearance, bars agents from detaining him as they did in August.

Dec. 12, 2025, 9:52 AM EST By Clarissa-Jan Lim

A federal judge barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again ahead of his scheduled meeting on Friday with ICE in Baltimore.

The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis prevents ICE from seizing Abrego Garcia until the court can hold a hearing on a temporary restraining order that his attorneys requested.

Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June to face federal charges after the Trump administration illegally deported him to El Salvador. He was released on bail, then redetained in August when he appeared for a check-in with ICE.

Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from ICE custody on Thursday, writing that since his return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, federal agents detained him again “without lawful authority.”

“It is beyond dispute that unlawful detention visits irreparable harm,” Xinis wrote in her Friday order.

A spokesperson for ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, denounced the judge’s order. The department has objected to other efforts to bar it from arresting people at immigration check-ins.

“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”

Abrego Garcia spoke to supporters outside before entering the ICE office Friday morning, saying through a translator that he will “continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me.”

“Regardless of this administration, I believe this is a country of laws and I believe that this injustice will come to an end,” he said.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

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