UNREAL: ICE Releases Kilmar Abrego Garcia From Custody, Here’s Why

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released Kilmar Abrego Garcia from custody on Thursday afternoon following a judge’s order for his ‘immediate’ release.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered his release from the ICE Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.

According to Fox News, Xinis ruled the Trump administration “had not obtained the final notice of removal order that is needed to deport him to a third country.”

“His removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process,” Xinis wrote, NBC News noted.

“Since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” she continued.

CNN provided coverage:

CNN shared further:

Abrego Garcia’s legal team picked him up at a Pennsylvania facility Thursday, according to his attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.

The Trump administration has struggled in recent weeks to find a country to quickly deport him to. Judges are able to order officials to release detained migrants if their removal from the US doesn’t appear imminent.

That reality, coupled with the fact that Xinis found that no order of removal currently exists for Abrego Garcia, meant that he was being unlawfully held in a remote immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania.

“Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,” she wrote, adding that the administration’s “conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer.”

“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge. This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented.

NBC News has more:

Abrego Garcia’s lead counsel on the case, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said Thursday: “We remain hopeful that this marks a turning point for Mr. Abrego Garcia, who has endured more than anyone should ever have to.”

“Today’s ruling is a powerful affirmation that the rule of law still matters,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “The Court made unmistakably clear that the government cannot detain a person indefinitely without legal authority, and that every agency involved must now comply fully and promptly with the Court’s directives.”

He said while the order is “an extraordinary victory for our client and for due process,” Abrego Garcia’s legal team will “stay vigilant to ensure that nothing undermines the Court’s decision.”



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