A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and illegal immigrant who had been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Judge Paula Xinis issued the ruling after determining that federal authorities lacked the legal basis to continue holding him in detention.

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In her order, Xinis wrote, “Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority. For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia’s Petition for immediate release from ICE custody.”

Xinis stated that ICE had taken Abrego Garcia into custody with the intent of removing him to a third country under 8 U.S.C. § 1231.

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However, she wrote that the “absence of a removal order raises an intractable problem for Respondents. They took Abrego Garcia into ICE custody with the singular purpose of removing him to a third country pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231.”

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The statute, she explained, only allows such action after the issuance of a final removal order.

“Section 1231, however, only permits such third-country removal proceedings upon the issuance of a final order of removal. Entitled ‘Detention and removal of [noncitizens] ordered removed,’ 8 U.S.C. § 1231 authorizes detention after the noncitizen ‘is ordered removed’ and enters the ‘removal period,’” Xinis wrote.

She added that federal officials had not provided an alternative legal basis for continuing to hold Abrego Garcia.

“The government has not articulated any other basis to hold Abrego Garcia apart from § 1231. Accordingly, because Respondents continue to detain Abrego Garcia solely for the purpose of effectuating third-country removal under § 1231 but lack any authority to effectuate such removal absent a removal order, his continued detention must end.”

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Abrego Garcia was deported from the United States to El Salvador in March.

Following his removal, he was later returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee.

He was released from custody in Tennessee in August.

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Days later, during a scheduled check-in with ICE officials in Baltimore, he was taken back into custody.

With no active removal order in place and the court determining that the statutory conditions for detention had not been met, Xinis concluded that federal authorities could not continue holding him under the provisions they had cited.

The ruling directs ICE to release Abrego Garcia immediately.

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