ICE abides by judge's order: Kilmar Abrego Garcia a free man in Maryland -- for now

Todd Karpovich, The Baltimore Sun on Dec 12, 2025

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BALTIMORE – A federal judge blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia again during a scheduled check-in Friday at Baltimore’s George H. Fallon Federal Building, allowing him to return home to his family in Prince George’s County.

The ruling followed a decision Thursday that the Trump administration lacked legal authority to continue holding Abrego Garcia in immigration detention. He had previously been detained during a similar check-in in August.

Attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, part of a team of more than 30 lawyers representing Abrego Garcia, said the decision marked a significant, if temporary, victory.

“This time, ICE did not violate a judge’s order, and they allowed him to leave,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said outside the courthouse. “We’ll never know what ICE’s plans were this morning — whether it was simply a check-in or whether they intended to arrest him just like they did in late August. But he’s walking out the door and heading back to Prince George’s County to be with his family.”

The attorney emphasized that although the ruling provides relief, the case is far from over. “As long as the government continues its actions against him, we will keep defending him,” he said.

Abrego Garcia, 30, entered Maryland illegally as a teenager and was mistakenly deported to his home country in March, despite a 2019 immigration judge’s order that barred his return because his family had been targeted by gangs. The case quickly became a rallying point for critics of President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies.

Outside the courthouse before Friday’s meeting, Abrego Garcia addressed a crowd of supporters in Spanish.

“I stand before you as a free man, and I want you to remember me this way, with my head held up high,” Abrego Garcia said, through an interpreter, Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, CASA’s Baltimore/Central Maryland lead organizer. . “I will continue to fight and stand firm against all the injustices this government has done to me.”

A federal judge has ordered that Abrego Garcia not be detained while the court schedules his next hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. Sandoval-Moshenberg said this will be the first hearing Abrego Garcia can attend in person, despite numerous prior proceedings in Maryland.

“He’ll finally get to see the judge, and the judge will get to see him. That’s when we’ll determine what happens going forward,” he said.

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