AP: Judge Rules US Can't Take Maryland Man Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back Into Immigration Custody

Come on, what does it take to get rid of this guy? As this editor reported last September, Maryland man and BFF of Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was finally getting set to be deported. ICE said he was bound for Uganda, but after Garcia said he was “fearful” of persecution in Uganda and 20 other countries, ICE settled on the African country Eswatini. As of October, Garcia’s final order of removal stood as a judge denied a motion to reopen his case. But he's still here, making cringe lip-sync TikTok videos without a care in the world.

This editor honestly doesn't know what's going on. In December, a federal judge ordered ICE to immediately release him. Garcia held a press conference and, through a translator, sounded like he was giving a Democratic Party campaign speech.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that a judge has ruled that the United States can't take Garcia back into immigration custody. He's here illegally and facing charges of human trafficking.

BREAKING: The U.S. can't take Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into immigration custody because it doesn't have a viable plan to deport him, judge says. https://t.co/QGxwBZvJ3R
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 17, 2026

Again, why did we vote for a president in 2024 when judges make all of the decisions? Travis Loller reports:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The Salvadoran national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.
The government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, wrote in her Tuesday order. “From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future.”