Judge keeps block on Trump administration effort to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

A federal judge upheld her block on the Trump administration from redetaining and deporting Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, sharply criticizing the government’s handling of the case during a Maryland court hearing on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, accused the administration of making “false assertions” about her prior rulings to an appeals court on Tuesday as Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought to answer questions about what happens to Abrego Garcia’s case once he is deported by the Trump administration.

“You need Mr. Abrego Garcia here to try him,” Xinis said, referring to his criminal human smuggling case in Tennessee.

Her decision to keep him out of ICE custody marked a second blow to the Department of Homeland Security‘s efforts to send him to a third country and largely stemmed from confusion surrounding a plan for his removal to Liberia. Xinis ordered both