ICE cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, judge rules

"The government made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success, US district judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, wrote in her Tuesday order. From this, the court easily concludes that there is no good reason to believe' removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future. Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager."

"In her Tuesday order, Xinis noted the government has purposely and for no reason ignored the one country that has consistently offered to accept Abrego Garcia as a refugee, and to which he agrees to go. That country is Costa Rica. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia's attorney, argued in court that immigration detention was not supposed to be a punishment. Immigrants can only be detained as a way to facilitate their deportation"

A federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because his 90-day detention period expired and removal is not reasonably foreseeable. The government proposed deportations to several African countries but presented no viable plan or likelihood of success. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year despite a 2019 ruling that returning him there would pose gang-related danger. He was returned to the U.S. after an indictment charging human smuggling; he has pleaded not guilty. The government ignored Costa Rica, which consistently offered to accept him as a refugee and to which he consented. His attorney argued detention must only facilitate deportation, not punish.

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