A Maryland federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Ábrego García, ruling that the U.S. government violated both due process protections and federal immigration law by keeping him in prolonged immigration detention without a lawful removal order. The decision brought a dramatic halt to a months-long saga marked by legal missteps, diplomatic dead ends, and a detention strategy that Judge Paula Xinis said had “collapsed under its own weight.”

A Detention With No Legal Anchor

Ábrego García, a Salvadoran national, was wrongfully deported in March and later returned to the United States to face federal human smuggling charges. Yet despite his reentry, the Trump administration never issued the removal order required to hold him. Judge Xinis noted that the government continued detaining him anyway—an act she ruled unconstitutional.

Federal officials had insisted they were holding Ábrego García in order to remove him to a third country, a strategy that Judge Xinis said ultimately unraveled. The administration attempted to deport him to several African nations, most recently Liberia, even though Ábrego García repeatedly requested removal to Costa Rica.

Judge Rejects Government’s Third-Country Plan

Judge Xinis said the government’s argument “fell flat” when it became clear that no African country ever agreed to take him, while Costa Rica confirmed it was willing to accept his return. She wrote that ICE had kept him detained “absent a lawful removal order,” and the government’s months of inconsistent conduct undermined the claim that his detention served any legitimate removal purpose.

“Because Ábrego García has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,” she concluded, adding that the government’s actions showed his detention “has been for something other than effectuating removal.”

Legal Teams on Both Sides

Ábrego García is represented by Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg and Rina Gandhi of Murray Osorio PLLC, along with a large legal team from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, including Stephen E. Frank, Jonathan G. Cooper, Olivia Horton, Andrew J. Rossman, Sascha N. Rand, K. McKenzie Anderson, Samuel P. Nitze, Courtney C. Whang, Roey Goldstein, Sam Heavenrich and Morgan L. Anastasio.

The U.S. government is represented by Drew Ensign, Ernesto Molina and Jonathan D. Guynn of the U.S. Department of Justice.