Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, an illegal alien from El Salvador facing human smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, has long been on the radar of U.S. law enforcement for his affiliations with the notorious MS-13 gang, also known as Mara Salvatrucha.
Breitbart News reports:
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.
Facing public pressure and a court order, President Donald Trump’s administration brought him back in June, but only after securing an indictment charging him with human smuggling in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, Trump officials have said he cannot stay in the U.S. In court filings, officials have said they intended to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia.
MS-13 is infamous for its involvement in violent crimes, including murder, extortion, and human trafficking.
Hellbound and Down 