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A federal judge in Maryland issued a court order Wednesday blocking the Trump administration from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the U.S. until at least October, setting the stage for further court clashes with the government after he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody earlier this week.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Wednesday extended a temporary restraining order she issued earlier this week, which requires Abrego Garcia to be kept in the continental U.S. — and within 200 miles of the court in Greenbelt, Maryland — until she can consider the emergency motion filed by his attorneys at an evidentiary hearing.
She also set October 6 as the date for the hearing to take place, which both parties agreed to, and said she would rule on the emergency request in the 30 days after.
The update from Xinis keeps Abrego Garcia in the U.S. for at least five more weeks, blocking the Trump administration, for now, from deporting him to a third country such as Uganda.
It comes after his lawyers on Monday filed an emergency habeas request to keep Abrego Garcia in the U.S. for now until his immigration case can play out via the proper channels, ensuring due process protections — including the right to a reasonable fear interview — before being removed to a third country.
ICE officials notified Abrego Garcia’s attorneys late last week that they planned to arrest him this week and deport him as early as Wednesday to Uganda. The East African nation reached an agreement with the U.S. earlier this month to accept certain deported migrants, though details of the arrangement were not immediately clear.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign told Judge Xinis on Wednesday that the Trump administration objected to the court extending the temporary restraining order, though he confirmed in response to her questions that they would voluntarily comply.
“Your clients are absolutely forbidden at this juncture to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the continental United States,” Xinis had stressed to Ensign on Monday, in issuing the now-extended emergency order.
Also on Wednesday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers told Xinis that they had filed an emergency motion to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum.
That request is outside Xinis’ jurisdiction, and was filed Tuesday in an immigration court in Baltimore.
Xinis had previously cited concerns over the lack of a known proffer from Uganda detailing what protections or freedoms Abreo Garcia would have in Uganda, compared to information provided by Costa Rica’s government, which had provided written assurances that Abrego Garcia would live freely in the country and not be refouled, or re-deported, to El Salvador.
Justice Department officials had offered Abrego Garcia the option of being removed to Costa Rica last week, as part of a plea deal in exchange for securing his guilty plea on criminal charges related to human smuggling in Tennessee. He declined.
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