Leavitt denounces 'judicial activist' who ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release from ICE custody
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fires back at a federal judge's order for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from I.C.E. custody.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran illegal immigrant that became the face of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, has been released from detention.
Garcia's lawyer confirmed his release with Fox News. His release came after a federal judge on Thursday ordered him freed following months of legal wrangling.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released from the ICE Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa., on the grounds that the Trump administration had not obtained the final notice of removal order that is needed to deport him to a third country, including a list of African nations they had previously identified for his removal.
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Surrounded by reporters, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura enter a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on Aug. 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. Abrego Garcia was freed Thursday from Immigration detention. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority," Xinis said in her order on Thursday.
The order said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not obtained a final notice of removal needed to remove Abrego Garcia from the U.S. Without that removal order, Xinis said, Abrego Garcia could not remain detained in federal immigration custody.
The Justice Department is expected to challenge the order.
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A protester holds a photo of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Getty Images)
"This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a social media post. "This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday afternoon that the Trump administration would "absolutely" be appealing Xinis' order, which she described as another instance of "activism" from a federal judge.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his wife and children when he was initially arrested.
Abrego Garcia's case epitomized the political firestorm that has ensued since March, when he was deported to El Salvador and housed in the country's CECOT mega-prison, in violation of a 2019 court order and in what Trump officials acknowledge was an "administrative error." Xinis ordered then that Abrego Garcia be "immediately" returned to the U.S.
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Upon his return to the United Sates, Abrego Garcia was immediately taken into federal custody and detained on human smuggling charges that stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop.
The Trump administration has claimed he is a member of MS-13, which Abrego Garcia denies.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration previously tried and failed to deport him to the African nations of Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda and Ghana.
Trump officials previously said that Costa Rica was "off the table," which had granted assurances that Abrego Garcia wouldn't detained or deported back to El Salvador.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer, speak to supporters outside of an ICE Field Office in Baltimore, Maryland. (Breanne Deppisch/Fox News Digital) (Fox News Digital/Breanne Deppisch)
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Subsequent court filings appear to show that Costa Rica had not reneged on its agreement to accept Abrego Garcia into their country, casting renewed doubt on that claim.
Fox News' Breanne Deppisch and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
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