'A Forceful Stand for Our Constitution': Judge Orders Release of Kilmar brego Garca
3 minute readPublished: Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 6:36 pm
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the immediate release of Kilmar brego Garcawho was wrongfully deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration earlier this yearfrom US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody."Since brego Garca's return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been redetained, again without lawful authority, US District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in her ruling. For this reason, the court will grant brego Garca's petition for immediate release from ICE custody.In early April, Xinisan appointee of former President Barack Obamaordered the Trump administration to facilitate brego Garca's return to the United States after he was deported in March to the abuse-plagued Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) maximum security prison in El Salvador. This, after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted in a court filing that brego Garca was wrongfully deported due to what it called an "administrative error."The US Supreme Court also weighed in on the case in favor of Xinis' ruling. However, the Trump administration refused to comply with the judge's order, arguing that it had no legal obligation to return brego Garca to the US and could not force El Salvador's government to free him.The DOJ dubiously contended that brego Garcaa 30-year-old Salvadoran father of three who entered the US without authorization when he was a teenagerwas a member of the gang MS-13, an allegation based on a statement from an anonymous police informant. The Trump administration deported him despite a judge's 2019 ruling that he could not be removed to El Salvador because he could be tortured there.An attorney representing brego Garca said at the time that his client suffered beatings and "psychological torture" while imprisoned at CECOT. (@) brego Garca was transferred to a lower security Salvadoran prison before being sent back to the US on June 6 to face DOJ charges for allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was immediately taken into custody and sent to an immigration detention facility in Tennessee.On July 23, federal Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Tennessee ruled that brego Garca must be released from custody pending his trial. That same day, Xinis issued a simultaneous ruling in brego Garca's wrongful deportation case blocking ICE from immediately seizing him once released in Tennessee and ordering the government to provide at least 72 hours' notice before attempting to deport him to any third country.As brego Garca was released on August 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informed him that he could be deported to Ugandaone of several nations to which the administration has sought to send him. A bid by brego Garca to reopen a previous bid for asylum in the US was denied in early October by an immigration judge.brego Garca is currently being held in an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania. Responding to Xinis' latest ruling, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday that "this is naked judicial activism by an Obama-appointed judge.""This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts," she added.Advocates for brego Garca welcomed Thursday's ruling."For months, the Trump administration has sought to deny Kilmar brego Garca his rights to due process and fair treatment by our justice system," US Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)who met with brego Garca in El Salvador in Aprilsaid on social media."Todays ruling by Judge Xinisrequiring the government to immediately release himis a forceful stand for our Constitution and all of our rights," he added.Lydia Walther-Rodrguez, chief of organizing and leadership at CASA, hailed what she called "a moment of joy and relief."Kilmar finally gets to return home to his family, where he belongs," she said. "No one should be separated from their loved ones while fighting for justice.