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Fiasco for Trump as Judge Issues Harsh Rebuke in Abrego Garcia Case
https://newrepublic.com/article/204355/trump-judge-rebuke-abrego-garcia-caseEver since the Trump administration wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a torture prison in El Salvador last spring, the president and anti-immigrant henchman Stephen Miller have plainly understood this saga as a crucial test case for the larger MAGA project. How far could they go in snatching people off the streets and placing them outside of U.S. law entirely? To what degree could they get away with wielding armed state terror against undesirables, with minimal to no constraints?
That’s why the latest turn in the Abrego Garcia story—in which a federal judge ordered him released from immigration detention in Pennsylvania—is so momentous. It suggests that at least for now, this test isn’t going how Trump and especially Miller evidently hoped.
The topline news in Judge Paula Xinis’s ruling—the one getting media coverage—is her surprising ruling that no order of removal for Abrego Garcia exists. She ruled his continued detention unlawful, and he’s now been released, though he still faces separate Justice Department prosecution for allegedly trafficking migrants.
But buried in this ruling is even bigger news. It concludes that Abrego Garcia’s treatment throughout has violated due process. Again and again, it scorches the Trump administration’s “extraordinary” and “troubling” handling of this whole case, suggesting it’s been utterly lawless and rife with malicious abuses of power.
The ruling neatly encapsulates the madness of the Trump era.
That’s why the latest turn in the Abrego Garcia story—in which a federal judge ordered him released from immigration detention in Pennsylvania—is so momentous. It suggests that at least for now, this test isn’t going how Trump and especially Miller evidently hoped.
The topline news in Judge Paula Xinis’s ruling—the one getting media coverage—is her surprising ruling that no order of removal for Abrego Garcia exists. She ruled his continued detention unlawful, and he’s now been released, though he still faces separate Justice Department prosecution for allegedly trafficking migrants.
But buried in this ruling is even bigger news. It concludes that Abrego Garcia’s treatment throughout has violated due process. Again and again, it scorches the Trump administration’s “extraordinary” and “troubling” handling of this whole case, suggesting it’s been utterly lawless and rife with malicious abuses of power.
The ruling neatly encapsulates the madness of the Trump era.
For Trump and Miller, the Abrego Garcia case was a crucial gauge of how far they could get in disappearing undesirables and placing them beyond the law entirely.
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 2025-12-12T17:45:08.587Z
Judge Xinis' ruling is important in that context. It calls out Trump's lawless conduct throughout. 2/
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
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