Judge will hear arguments on whether ICE can detain Kilmar Abrego García again

The federal judge overseeing the immigration case of Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego García is scheduled to hear arguments Monday on whether ICE should be allowed to detain Abrego García again while the government attempts to deport him to Liberia or another country.

Abrego García was released on December 11 after federal district judge Paula Xinis determined that the government had detained him “without legal authority.”

Judge Xinis said in part that he had not been issued a formal deportation order during his immigration proceedings in 2019, when a judge also barred the government from deporting him to his native El Salvador because of his fear of persecution.

After Abrego García’s release, an immigration judge “corrected” the error and added a deportation order to his record, finding that it “was mistakenly omitted.”

Abrego García, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison, despite a 2019 court order prohibiting his expulsion to that country, after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, which he denies.

he was brought back to the US in June to face human trafficking charges in Tennessee, after which Judge Xinis released him from ICE detention while he awaits trial. He is scheduled to go on trial in January on the Tennessee charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

On Friday, his lawyers filed a motion seeking sanctions against the Trump administration for allegedly violating a court order prohibiting officials from making extrajudicial statements that could affect the case. After Abrego García’s release from ICE detention, Chief Border Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino called him an “alien smuggler” and a “wife beater” on national television, his attorneys said.