Judge Blocks Abrego Garcia's Deportation

A federal judge on Monday doubled down that the Trump administration is “absolutely forbidden” from removing mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the U.S., for now.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an appointee of former President Obama, blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Uganda until she can hold a hearing to determine whether the administration will let him contest his removal to the third country.

Abrego Garcia’s detention and the bid to deport him comes just three days after he was freed from custody in a criminal case filed against him in federal court in Tennessee. He filed suit after he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody Monday when he reported for a check-in at ICE’s Baltimore field office.

Xinis emphasized Monday that Abrego Garcia isn’t going anywhere, for now.

Abrego Garcia has argued in the criminal case that he’s a target of selective and vindictive prosecution, claiming the effort to deport him to Uganda is proof.

His lawyers told a federal judge in Tennessee that the Justice Department presented him with a deal to plead guilty to two human smuggling charges he faces and serve that time before being deported to Costa Rica, which would accept him as a lawful citizen.

But when he turned that down, the government said it would send him to Uganda, instead.