GREENBELT, Maryland, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Kilmar Abrego, the Salvadoran migrant whose wrongful deportation became a flashpoint, appeared in court on Monday as a federal judge extended an order temporarily barring U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from taking him back into immigration custody.
Abrego, 30, attended a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who earlier this month ordered his immediate release from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. It marked the first time Abrego has appeared at the courthouse as his lawyers have waged a months-long legal battle first to have him returned from El Salvador and later to end his immigration detention.
Abrego, who entered the United States illegally, became a symbol of the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations when he was sent to a megaprison in El Salvador in March despite a prior court order barring him from being returned there because of a risk of persecution.
Abrego linked arms with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, outside the courthouse and looked upward while a group of supporters chanted “si, se puede” or “yes, you can.”
“It has been a tremendous rollercoaster of emotions,” said his lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. Abrego did not address reporters.
Inside the courthouse, Xinis ordered lawyers for the Trump administration to provide more information by Friday on their plans for Abrego. The Trump administration has indicated it may seek to take Abrego back into ICE custody under different legal authority.
Xinis said her temporary order halting that action will remain in effect while she weighs arguments for a more permanent block.
The Trump administration brought Abrego back to the U.S. in June after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate his return. His return came only after prosecutors secured a criminal indictment charging Abrego with human smuggling.
Abrego has pleaded not guilty.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Rosalba O’Brien)
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