Federal judge rules Kilmar Abrego Garcia can't be re-detained by immigration authorities
Source: AP
Updated 12:54 PM EST, February 17, 2026
GREENBELT, MD (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The Salvadoran national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.
The government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” U.S. 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 U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger there from a gang that had threatened his family. By mistake, he was deported there anyway last year.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abrego-garcia-immigration-ice-ec79dc6e073493ec8a8284fa32c7a2fb
Just breaking.
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.589189/gov.uscourts.mdd.589189.141.0_2.pdf
REFERENCES (most recent)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143569072
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143569112
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143581108
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143583137
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143585786
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143586847
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143586853
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143588662
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143590067
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143591917
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143599588
Article updated.
Original article -
GREENBELT, MD (AP) -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The Salvadoran national's case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager.
In 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger there from a gang that had threatened his family. By mistake, he was deported there anyway in March.
= new reply since forum marked as read
She should be calling out the criminal in the WH but she's too much of a knee-bending coward. Absolute zero integrity. 
With the photo-shopped "MS 13" crap?
That was 9 months ago and the harassment has been unrelenting since.
Repulsive racists! 