U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be released from custody.
According to the order, federal officials are to “release Abrego Garcia from ICE custody immediately” and shall “notify Abrego Garcia’s counsel of the exact time and location of his release no fewer than four hours prior to releasing him, and notify the Court of the status of Abrego Garcia’s release by email to chambers no later than 5:00 p.m. today, Thursday, December 11, 2025.”
In her 31-page opinion, Xinis wrote, “Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper.”
“Separately, Respondents’ 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,” the judge continued.
Xinis stated in the opinion that “Costa Rica had never wavered in its commitment to receive Abrego Garcia, just as Abrego Garcia never wavered in his commitment to resettle there,” adding that “Respondents’ persistent refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option, their threats to send Abrego Garcia to African countries that never agreed to take him, and their misrepresentation to the Court that Liberia is now the only country available to Abrego Garcia, all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal.”
Abrego Garcia was taken into ICE custody in Maryland in August. “Today, ICE law enforcement arrested Kilmar Abrego Garcia and are processing him for deportation,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said at the time. “President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, to terrorize American citizens any longer.”
