Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025.

A judge has ordered that a Salvadoran migrant in the custody of federal immigration officials should be set free, saying the Trump administration had no legal basis to expel him from the country and had misled her at a hearing last month.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was detained earlier this year and mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States in June but was arrested again on federal charges of human smuggling in Tennessee.

Xinis’ order, filed on Thursday, Dec. 11, is the latest twist in a case that has shone a spotlight on the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies. It is unlikely to be the last word on the matter, however. The Justice Department said it will continue to fight the ruling in court.

Abrego Garcia, who was born in El Salvador but entered the United States illegally in 2012, had been living with his wife and three children in Beltsville, Maryland, when he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents near his home in March.

He was among hundreds of alleged members of gangs MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua whom the government expelled to El Salvador on March 15. Abrego Garcia was deported even though an earlier order had prevented him from being returned to his home country. In El Salvador, he was held in a notoriously violent prison, where he said he endured severe beatings and psychological torture.

The Justice Department blamed his deportation on an administrative error but insisted he was a member of the MS-13 gang, which he has denied.

In her order, Xinis said it is “troubling” that the Justice Department continued to hold Abrego Garcia in custody for months on the grounds that it was going to expel him to another country – without taking any steps to actually remove him from the United States.

Xinis said the government had no authority to send him to a third country without a legal removal order, which she said it did not have.

At a hearing last month, Xinis wrote, Justice Department lawyers informed the court that they had no alterative but to send Abrego Garcia to the African country of Liberia because Costa Rica had rescinded its offer to hold him there.

But Costa Rica never rescinded its offer, Xinis wrote, citing news reports.

“This evidently remained an inconvenient truth” for the administration, she wrote, saying the government’s lawyers had “affirmatively misled” the court.

More to the point, she said, the government’s refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option and its “misrepresentation” that Libera was the only country that would take him “all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal.”

Because of the absence of a legal removal order and because the government’s conduct over the past few months raises questions about its reasons for holding him, Abrego Garcia should be held no longer, Xinis said.

Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, praised the judge's decision as "an extraordinary victory for our client and for due process."

"We remain hopeful that this marks a turning point for Mr. Abrego Garcia, who has endured more than anyone should ever have to," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "At the same time, we are mindful of the government’s past conduct in this case and will stay vigilant to ensure that nothing undermines the court’s decision."

In Washington, Justice Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called the ruling "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 said.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also slammed the judge's decision and accused her of "really acting as a judicial activist." Abrego Garcia is "a proven human trafficker – he is a proven gang member," Leavitt said. "We have evidence of that."

Even if he is released, Abrego Garcia still faces the criminal charges in Tennessee.

A federal grand jury in Nashville indicted him on May 21 on human smuggling charges. The indictment alleges that, from 2016 through 2025, he and other unnamed people conspired to bring undocumented migrants into the United States from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and elsewhere.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Contributing: Joey Garrison

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X: @mcollinsNEWS.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release in key Trump deportation case

Reporting by Natalie Neysa Alund and Michael Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect