Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is looking to again detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man mistakenly deported to the Central American country earlier this year and whose case dominated headlines throughout the Trump administration.
Abrego Garcia was released less than two weeks ago after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis determined that the government detained him "without lawful authority." Now she will hear arguments from ICE officials, who are seeking to detain him again.
ABC News noted that the man had not been issued a formal order of removal during immigration proceedings in 2019. After the release, an immigration judge amended the document and added a removal order to the record, claiming it had been "erroneously omitted."
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who has lived in the United States for nearly 15 years, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March despite a court order protecting him from being returned there.
He was brought back to the United States in June after the Supreme Court declined to intervene in his case, and he later pleaded not guilty to federal smuggling charges in Nashville. After a Tennessee judge allowed his release, ICE immediately detained him again and pursued removal to several third countries.
Court filings show the administration proposed deporting him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, or Liberia, though none had formally agreed to receive him. Xinis wrote that officials showed "inexplicable reluctance" to send him to Costa Rica despite evidence the country was willing to accept him. When the court sought further explanation, Xinis said her orders "were ignored without justification."
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