U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis granted more relief to Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Friday after Abrego Garcia’s immigration lawyers asked her to issue a ruling prohibiting further Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detainment after his Thursday release.
The order by Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, confirms that it was requested by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys when, after being released from ICE custody, the agency again informed him that he is subject to a final deportation order from 2019, and informed the alleged human smuggler that his release would be subject to conditions due to his status.
Abrego Garcia requested on Friday that ICE be prohibited from detaining him following her order the previous day, and Xinis granted the request, but only if ICE actually sought to detain him.
“As a preliminary matter, the Court allows for the possibility that Respondents do not intend to violate this Court’s order,” wrote Xinis, before acknowledging that the order contained terms of release that appear to contradict the claim they sought to return Abrego Garcia to federal custody.
“But if the Court is wrong, and Respondents do intend to re-detain Abrego Garcia, the Court GRANTS the TRO Motion,” wrote Xinis.
Despite Abrego Garcia’s immigration case concluding in 2019, and an immigration judge recently declining to reopen the file, Xinis claimed in her Thursday order to release Abrego Garcia that the final ruling in the immigration case did not constitute an order of removal. As the file cannot be reopened, this leaves the government without the ability to arrest or deport the illegal immigrant, short of a successful appeal.
In addition to the terms of release set by ICE on Thursday, Abrego Garcia is subject to pretrial release terms set by a magistrate judge in Tennessee, where he is set to proceed to trial in January on federal human smuggling charges. He pleaded not guilty.
Originally deported to El Salvador amid contested circumstances in March, Abrego Garcia was returned to Tennessee in June, when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi unsealed the indictment alleging he spent nearly a decade embroiled in a human smuggling ring.
The indictment was unsealed only weeks after The Tennessee Star reported that the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) stopped Abrego Garcia on November 30, 2022.
A spokesman for THP confirmed to The Star that Abrego Garcia was released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI,” despite a DHS document showing troopers suspected human trafficking during the traffic stop. The Star was recently recognized with the Dao Prize for Best Local Journalism for its reporting on Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia reportedly returned to Baltimore, Maryland.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
So we have an illegal, wife-beater, gang member and human trafficker out on the streets thanks to a corrupt and evil Demonrat judge.