Trump STUNNED as Judge ORDERS IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Legal AF [View all]

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Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian discuss Judge Paula Xinis's ruling ordering the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody and blocking his rearrest.

In 2019, Abrego Garcia was granted protection from deportation to El Salvador due to credible gang threats. Despite this, ICE wrongfully deported him in March 2025 during routine check-ins, admitting an "administrative error." After courts ordered his return, he was immediately detained again and ICE sought to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Liberia—none viable options.

Abrego Garcia filed a habeas corpus petition arguing unlawful detention. Judge Xinis ruled ICE had no authority to detain him because no final removal order existed, finding his removal "cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process." She found the government "serially notified" him of deportations to African countries while "affirmatively misleading" the court by falsely claiming Costa Rica rescinded its offer when it never wavered.

After Xinis ordered his December 11th release, DOJ obtained a retroactive removal order from an immigration judge attempting to rewrite the 2019 decision. Xinis immediately blocked rearrest, calling the maneuver a corrupt abuse of due process. DHS attacked Xinis as "naked judicial activism." Abrego Garcia also faces human smuggling charges in Tennessee that a judge indicated may be retaliatory prosecution. - 12/18/2025.