In a move that likely won't surprise anyone, a federal judge has stepped in to stop infamous illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego-Garcia from being deported to Uganda. That news comes despite the Supreme Court recently blessing the practice as legal.
Abrego-Garcia, who is a suspected MS-13 member and is currently charged with human smuggling (and also had multiple restraining orders for allegedly beating his wife), was originally deported to his home country of El Salvador before a pre-existing non-removal order touched off a contentious legal battle. Eventually, he was returned to the United States by the Department of Justice after evidence of his participation in a human smuggling scheme was revealed.
On Friday, a Tennessee judge allowed Abrego-Garcia to leave jail on bail and return to Maryland. Because he remains an illegal immigrant, he was then ordered by ICE to appear in Baltimore to be taken into custody and deported to Uganda. Notably, the non-removal order only applied to El Salvador and was based on claims of gang persecution.
SEE: Illegal Immigrant Abrego-Garcia Gets Some Very Bad News After Being Released From Jail
In response, Abrego-Garcia's lawyers immediately filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Now, Judge Paula Xinis, a Barack Obama appointee, has stepped in and stopped his latest deportation, claiming there are "several grounds" on which she may provide relief.
At a hearing Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that Abrego must remain stay detained in the U.S. — temporarily blocking his deportation to Uganda — until she holds an evidentiary hearing.
The judge said there are "several grounds" on which there may be jurisdiction for her to exercise relief — including that Uganda has not agreed to offer Abrego protections, like being able to walk freely, being given refugee status and not being re-deported to El Salvador.
In Abrego-Garcia's habeas corpus petition, his lawyers claimed "fear of persecution and torture" in Uganda as a reason to stop his deportation. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's the same excuse he gave to avoid being sent back to his native El Salvador.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's petition for writ of habeas corpus is now public.
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) August 25, 2025
In it, he now says that he "expressed fear of persecution and torture in Uganda and requested a reasonable fear interview."
Does Uganda have an MS-13 problem? Did he murder an 18th street member there? pic.twitter.com/rs7LzVNney
The game being played here is obvious. Left-wing judges are trying to push a standard by which every single one of the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States can simply claim a "reasonable fear" of being deported as a way to stop the deportation process. There is no reason to believe that Abrego-Garcia, who has never even been to Uganda, would face persecution and torture there. Yet, all it takes is saying that for this Obama judge and others like her to halt deportations, even types of deportations that have been litigated and authorized by the Supreme Court.
Asylum rules are being twisted to the point of absurdity, and left-wing judges are more than happy to be the vehicle for that. Abrego-Garcia is charged with federal crimes, and he is an illegal immigrant with a lawful removal order. There is no basis for this judge to step in and keep him in the United States. And while I'm confident the Trump administration will eventually win this legal battle, it is a travesty that the judicial system is being abused like this in the interim.
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