He still must wear an ankle monitor and remain at home under the Nashville orders, from this past Summer -- but I don't think Noem can lawfully keep him in Pennsylvania away from his Maryland family, any longer, after tonight. Here's that Judge Xinis banger:
. . .But nothing suggests [his 2019 administrative proceedings judge] ordered Abrego Garcia removed to El Salvador. In fact, the withholding decision twice erroneously suggested that the stated country of removal from which Abrego Garcia sought relief was Guatemala. Id. at 9 (“DHS has failed to carry their burden to show that there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened. . . .”); id. at 14 (“DHS has not shown there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened, or that internal relocation is possible and reasonable under the circumstances.”). The withholding decision also included a separate “order” that did not command Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador or anywhere else. . . .
For the next six years, Abrego Garcia lived and worked in Maryland subject to an ICE order of supervision. Abrego Garcia I, ECF No. 1-3. See also ECF No. 32-10 (employment authorization identification card); ECF No. 33 (order of supervision). But on March 12, 2025, while driving with his son in the car, ICE agents pulled over Abrego Garcia and arrested him. Abrego I, ECF No. 31 at 4. Three days later, Respondents forcibly expelled him, along with 252 Venezuelan and Salvadoran nationals, to El Salvador where they were detained in the Terrorism Confinement Center (“CECOT”). . . .
In response, on March 24, 2025, Abrego Garcia filed suit in this Court and separately moved for an injunction directing Respondents to secure his immediate release from CECOT and his return to the United States. Abrego I, ECF Nos. 1 & 2. On April 4, 2025, the Court granted such relief, ordering Respondents to “facilitate and effectuate” his return to the United States. . . .
[O]n June 6, 2025, Respondents paroled Abrego Garcia to the United States after securing a federal indictment in the Middle District of Tennessee, a matter that is itself under scrutiny for vindictive and selective prosecution. . . .
Meanwhile, during plea negotiations in the criminal case, Costa Rica offered to grant Abrego Garcia residency as a refugee. ECF No. 1-3; ECF No. 1-7; Tennessee Criminal Matter, ECF No. 114-1. Official correspondence dated August 21, 2025, from Costa Rica’s Minister of Public Security Mario E. Zamora Cordero (“Zamora Cordero”), confirmed [this]. . . .
At the hearing on November 20, it became evident that once again, Respondents defied this Court’s orders. . . . They simply refused to prepare and produce a witness with knowledge to testify in any meaningful way. Cantú candidly admitted, for example, that he had no prior involvement in Abrego Garcia’s case and spent approximately five minutes preparing to testify. See ECF No. 107 at 33:3–4, 39:5–9. Cantú also shared that none of Respondents’ attorneys had discussed this Court’s order with him or showed him its contents. See id. at 42:1–24. Nor did Cantú understand the purpose of his testimony. . . .
Despite this tortured history, Abrego Garcia’s arguments in favor of release are quite simple. He contends that his detention is without lawful authority because Respondents have no final order of removal authorizing as much under the third-country removal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1231. Thus, says Abrego Garcia, his release is compelled. [This court agrees.]
Abrego Garcia’s case demands judicial intervention to ensure that Respondents choose constitutionally permissible means of implementing the INA. Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 695. Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-country removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper. Separately, Respondents’ conduct over the past months belie that his detention has been for the basic purpose of effectuating removal, lending further support that Abrego Garcia should be held no longer. . . .
The Court orders Respondents to release Abrego Garcia from ICE custody immediately. Thereafter, he will receive instruction from the United States Pretrial Services Office as to installation on the release conditions previously imposed in his [Nashville] case. . . .
Sanity makes a comeback!
नमस्ते
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