Judge orders migrant deported in 'error' free from ICE custody with criminal case looming

By Fox News · Fox News

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody — an update that comes just days before he is slated to appear in Nashville for a key court date in a separate criminal case. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to convert her previous emergency order blocking ICE from immediately re-detaining Abrego Garcia into a longer-term form of injunctive relief sought by his lawyers. She said Tuesday that the Trump administration failed to provide the court with any "good reason to believe" that they plan to remove him to a third country in the "reasonably foreseeable future." Instead, she said, they "made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success." The order clears the way for Abrego Garcia to participate in a key hearing in Nashville next week on whether a separate federal judge should dismiss his criminal case on the grounds of "vindictive" and selective prosecution. ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT Xinis also said the government has "done nothing" to show the court that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is "consistent with due process." "Respondents have done nothing to show that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is consistent with due process," Xinis said Tuesday. She ticked through a list of the Trump administration's efforts to remove Abrego Garcia to a list of four African nations it had identified as so-called "third countries" of removal in the months between August, when Abrego was re-detained by ICE, and December, when Xinis ultimately ordered his release. The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Xinis said Tuesday that the administration "refused to procure Abrego Garcia’s immediate removal to Costa Rica," the location he had identified as his…