Judge blocks ICE from re-detaining Abrego Garcia – but signals ruling could come fast

By Fox News · Fox News

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Monday extended a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from immediately re-detaining Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, after the government again failed to produce a final removal order. Xinis agreed to keep in place the TRO she issued earlier this month, which ordered Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody, and blocked immigration authorities from immediately re-detaining him. The extension rested on the court's earlier determination that ICE had not obtained a final court order needed to remove Abrego Garcia from the U.S. Without that removal order, Xinis said, Abrego Garcia could not remain detained in immigration custody. Ultimately, Monday's hearing ended with little in the way of new information for the court in the way of that document or any other details sought by the court. Instead, the proceedings were punctuated only by moments of frustration from Xinis – the judge who has presided over Abrego Garcia's civil case since March – as she tried and failed to ascertain the status of the same deportation order she cited as the basis for his release from ICE custody 10 days earlier. "I don't know what the government's position is," Xinis said Monday, exasperated. US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE 'SOON' ON ABREGO GARCIA'S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING Xinis ultimately adjourned court with a vow to work "as quickly" as possible to issue a ruling. She set a deadline of Friday – one day after Christmas – for the Justice Department to submit additional information on its removal plans, including the deportation document and third country of removal. She also ordered additional information from the plaintiffs, due by the end of the month. Lawyers for Abrego reiterated on Monday that his preferred country of removal is Costa Rica, which had agreed to accept him in August. Xinis noted that the government told her in court last month that Costa Rica had rescinded its offer to accept Abrego Garcia; a subsequent decla…