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Salvadorean migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia vowed Friday to “continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me,” in his first appearance since being released from federal immigration custody.
Garcia spoke as he appeared for a check-in at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the terms of his release.
“I want to tell everybody who is also suffering family separation. God is with you. This is a process. Keep fighting,” Garcia said through a translator.
“I stand before you as a free man. And I want you to remember me this way. With my head held up high,” he also said, noting that, “Yesterday I spent time and celebrated and enjoyed my family, who is everything for me, especially so close to Christmas and being in this holiday season.”
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA RELEASED FROM ICE CUSTODY
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, listens with his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge’s order. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released from the ICE Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa., on Thursday 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.
The Justice Department is expected to challenge the order.
“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.”
KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA RELEASED AFTER JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LACKED VALID REMOVAL ORDER
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge’s order. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
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.
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.
“The facts are he is an illegal alien from El Salvador, a MS-13 gang member, and has a history of violence,” the Department of Homeland Security said in April.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. (Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via REUTERS)
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Meanwhile, the Trump administration previously tried and failed to deport him to the African nations of Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda and Ghana.
