A federal judge has just prevented DHS and ICE from keeping human trafficker and MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia in custody as his court case plays out.
Obama-appointee Judge Paula Xinis also said Garcia must be provided with 72 hours notice if they intend to re-deport him.
Here’s more from CBS News:
A federal judge on Wednesday barred federal immigration authorities from immediately taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into custody once he is released from criminal confinement in Tennessee and ordered the Trump administration to provide him 72 hours’ notice if it plans to initiate proceedings to remove him to a country that is not his place of origin.
The order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis was issued as a federal judge in Tennessee, who is presiding over Abrego Garcia’s criminal case, ruled that the Salvadoran national should be released from the custody of federal law enforcement under conditions that will be set by a magistrate judge.
The Tennessee judge, Waverly Crenshaw, denied the Justice Department’s request to revoke an order allowing Abrego Garcia to be released while awaiting a criminal trial, writing that the government “failed to carry its burden of showing that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure Abrego’s appearance or the safety of others.”
Abrego Garcia was charged with two criminal counts of human smuggling last month and has pleaded not guilty. While a magistrate judge said he should be released from the custody of U.S. Marshals ahead of a trial, set to begin in January, the order prompted concerns that Abrego Garcia would then be swiftly detained by federal immigration authorities and deported.
In addition to blocking Trump administration officials from taking Abrego Garcia into custody after he is released in Tennessee, Xinis ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore an order of supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to its Baltimore field office and that Abrego Garcia should be returned to Maryland, where he lives with his family.
Xinis, who sits on the federal district court in Maryland, wrote that she “must accord modest relief” that ensures Abrego Garcia is not subject to “re-deportation without due process” and ensures the fulfillment of her order earlier this year that required the Trump administration to return him to the U.S. from El Salvador.
Everyone keeps rolling out the red carpet for this MS-13 gangbanger, when he really should be convicted of his crimes and sent out of the country forever. And while he’s still here, he absolutely should be behind bars. This ruling is ridiculous.