On a chilly December morning in Baltimore, Kilmar Abrego Garcia walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office to the cheers of supporters, his head held high. The Salvadoran native, who has become an emblem of the ongoing battle over U.S. immigration policy, had just secured another victory in court—one that, at least for now, keeps him out of federal detention and in the company of his family in Maryland.
The dramatic turn of events unfolded over the course of just a few days. According to reporting from ABC News and CNN, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a temporary restraining order at 7:30 a.m. on December 12, 2025, blocking the government from re-detaining Abrego Garcia. This emergency measure came only hours after Judge Xinis had already ordered his release from an immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania, finding that the government could not lawfully hold him due to the absence of a removal order from an immigration judge.
Abrego Garcia’s odyssey through the American immigration system is as complex as it is harrowing. In March 2025, he was deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison, despite a 2019 federal court order that explicitly barred his removal to that country. The reason? He feared persecution if returned, a concern that Judge Xinis later described as well-founded. The deportation was carried out after the Trump administration alleged he was a member of the MS-13 gang—a claim Abrego Garcia has consistently denied.
After months in El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States in June 2025 to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty and was released into the custody of his brother in Maryland while awaiting trial. But his reprieve was short-lived. Immigration authorities detained him again, this time holding him in a Pennsylvania facility. The government’s justification for this second detention? A removal order that, as it turned out, did not exist—at least not officially.
The legal wrangling reached a fever pitch on December 11, 2025, when Judge Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia’s release, citing the lack of a valid removal order. But that night, in a move that caught his attorneys off guard, immigration judge Philip Taylor issued a rare decision. Taylor declared that a 2019 order of removal had been “erroneously omitted” from Abrego Garcia’s record and appeared to retroactively add it. According to documents obtained by ABC News, Taylor wrote, “The order of removal to El Salvador, which should have preceded the order granting him withholding of removal to El Salvador, was erroneously omitted.”
With this new development, Abrego Garcia’s legal team sprang into action. “Shortly after midnight, we filed an application for temporary restraining order with Judge Xinis, and at 7:30 a.m. she granted the temporary restraining order prohibiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia from being re-arrested at this check in today,” Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told reporters outside the Baltimore ICE office. “As a result of that, I’m pleased to announce that Mr. Abrego Garcia will be walking back out those doors again later this morning.”
Judge Xinis’s order was clear and forceful. “If, as Abrego Garcia suspects, Respondents will take him into custody this morning, then his liberty will be restricted once again. It is beyond dispute that unlawful detention visits irreparable harm,” she wrote in her brief ruling, as cited by CNN. The temporary restraining order will remain in effect until the court can hold a full hearing on the matter.
Outside the ICE office, Abrego Garcia addressed the crowd through a translator, his words resonating with many who have faced similar struggles. “I stand before you as a free man. And I want you to remember me this way – with my head held up high,” he said, urging others suffering family separation to persevere. “God is with you. This is a process. Keep fighting,” he continued. Despite everything, he expressed faith in the American legal system: “I believe this is a country of laws, and I believe that this injustice will come to its end.”
The Justice Department, for its part, declined to comment on the judge’s order. But Sandoval-Moshenberg was candid about the road ahead. “I wish I could say that this is the end of the story. But I think we’ve all been here long enough to know that, unfortunately, the government is not going to leave well enough alone,” he told reporters. “They’re going to keep going, and we’re going to keep going.”
Judge Xinis’s decision wasn’t made in a vacuum. In her order, she noted that “since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.” She also pointed out that the government’s actions—especially its efforts to remove Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica instead of El Salvador—were complicated by international dynamics. Costa Rica, through Minister Zamora Cordero, reaffirmed its “firm, unwavering, and unconditional” offer to grant Abrego Garcia residence and refugee status, a fact communicated to multiple news sources within 24 hours of the attempted removal, as reported by ABC News.
This isn’t the first time Judge Xinis has stepped in on Abrego Garcia’s behalf. Back in August 2025, she blocked the government from removing him from the United States until his habeas case challenging the removal was resolved in court. That habeas petition was ultimately granted on December 11 or 12, 2025, marking another win for Abrego Garcia and his supporters.
The saga has drawn national attention, not just for its legal twists and turns, but for what it reveals about the current state of U.S. immigration enforcement. Abrego Garcia’s case underscores the sometimes dizzying complexity—and, critics argue, the potential for error and overreach—of the system. The government’s attempt to correct what it called a clerical error in Abrego Garcia’s record by retroactively adding a removal order has been described as highly unusual, raising questions about due process and the checks and balances within immigration proceedings.
For now, Abrego Garcia remains in Maryland, surrounded by his wife and children, and awaiting his day in court on the human smuggling charges in Tennessee. His story, however, is far from over. As his lawyer made clear, the legal and political battles are likely to continue, with broader implications for others caught in the web of immigration enforcement.
In a system often criticized for its opacity and rigidity, the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia stands as a reminder of the power of the courts—and the resilience of those who refuse to give up hope.
