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Kilmar Abrego Garcia released after judge rules Trump admin lacked valid removal order
By Louis Casiano
Published December 11, 2025
Kilmar Abrgeo 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 he be freed.
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)
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.
"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.
This story is breaking. Please check back for updates.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kilmar-abrego-garcia-released-judge-rules-trump-admin-lacked-valid-removal-order