A federal judge in Maryland has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from detaining or deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 22-year-old immigrant who was previously deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order.
The ruling comes amid growing legal and political tensions over Abrego Garcia’s case, which has become a flashpoint in debates over US immigration enforcement.
Court orders federal protection and supervision
US District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order on Wednesday, barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking Abrego Garcia into custody if he is released from jail in Tennessee, where he is awaiting trial on human smuggling charges. She also mandated that the US government give three business days’ notice before initiating any new deportation proceedings against him.
Judge Xinis further ordered that Abrego Garcia’s previous federal supervision status be reinstated — a condition that had allowed him to live and work legally in Maryland for several years while reporting regularly to immigration officials. That status was abruptly revoked when he was deported to El Salvador in March, despite a 2019 immigration judge’s ruling that protected him from being returned to that country due to potential gang-related threats.
“Defendants have done little to assure the Court that absent intervention, Abrego Garcia’s due process rights will be protected,” Xinis wrote in her ruling.
Human smuggling charges and legal battle
The human smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia was found driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Authorities suspected smuggling but allowed him to continue driving. He was later charged, and his defense attorneys are now seeking his release from jail pending trial — but only on the condition that he won’t be immediately detained or deported by ICE.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled that Abrego Garcia is eligible for release under specific conditions that would address concerns about flight risk and public safety. However, his legal team has asked the court to delay that release until further protections are in place. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, who had previously supported his release, signed an order postponing it for 30 more days.
Legal and political fallout
Abrego Garcia became a symbol of what critics say are overreaches of the Trump administration’s immigration policies after he was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March. His American wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is now suing the Trump administration in Maryland court, seeking to block another deportation and to hold federal officials accountable for violating a 2019 court ruling that protected him from removal to El Salvador.
US authorities argue that Abrego Garcia, who entered the US illegally in 2011, remains eligible for deportation based on a separate 2019 ruling — but they insist they won’t send him back to El Salvador. Instead, they’ve suggested deporting him to a third country such as Mexico or South Sudan, citing alleged ties to the MS-13 gang — a claim his legal team strongly disputes.
The court has not yet ruled on the legality of his original deportation, but the Maryland judge’s order represents a significant rebuke of the administration’s handling of the case and signals deeper scrutiny into the broader enforcement practices under Trump-era policies.