Judge's ruling requires hearing for Abrego Garcia
By: John Bacon
and Michael Collins
USA Today
..... Lawyers for Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia and prosecutors seeking to expel him from the country faced a deadline August 26 [2025] to provide a federal judge with a timeline for hearings on the widely watched case.
.....
District Judge Paula Xinis ruled August 25 [2025] that the government cannot deport Abrego Garcia for a second time until she holds a hearing on a lawsuit challenging his deportation. Xinis stressed that the government was "absolutely forbidden at this juncture" to remove Abrego Garcia from the United States.
..... It has been a whirlwind few days for Abrego Garcia, who has spent more than five months in detention, including time at a notorious prison in his native El Salvador. On August 22, [2025] he was released from criminal custody in Tennessee and returned to his home in Beltsville, Maryland.
..... On August 25, [2025] he was detained again after reporting to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore. ICE officials claimed they wanted him to check in for an interview. His lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said ICE officials detained Abrego Garcia within a minute of his arrival.
..... Hours later, Abrego Garcia's lawyers field the federal lawsuit seeking to ensure their client was not shipped out of the country without a hearing.
..... The government's attorney, Drew Ensign, said deportation was not imminent. But the Trump administration has remained resolute.
..... "President Trump
is not going to allow this legal align, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator to terrorize American citizens and linger," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a social media post.
..... Abrego Garcia has repeatedly denied those claims.
..... His cause started in March [2025] when he was stopped near his home and later was wrongfully whisked away to a Salvadoran mega-prison. He was neutered to the United Stats in June [2025] but remains in custody until August 22. [2025]
.....
Xinis suggested during the hearing that if Abrego Garcia is deported, federal law may require he be sent to his country of chose. Abrego Garcia's lawyer said U.S. officials to deport him to Costa Rica if he pleads guilty to transporting migrants living illegally in the country. When he declined to enter a guilty plea, the government warned he could be deported to Uganda.
..... Before his check-in with ICE, Abrego Garcia notified the government in writing that Costa Rica would be an acceptable alternative.
.....
U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, on August 26 [2025] threw out a rare case in which the trump administration sued all 15 judges in a Maryland federal court to block judicial orders that slowed deportations.
.....
The administration was challenging two orders by Judge George L. Russell III, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, that blocked federal mitigation officials from removing or altering the legal status of certain detainees for two business days. The order were designed to give the Maryland federal court time to address court petitions before the detainees were transferred outside of the court's jurisdiction.
..... Contributing: Evan Mealins, Nashville Tennessean; Eduardo Cuevas and Aysha Bogchi, USA today; Reuters