Table of Contents
- A ‘Topsy-Turvy’ Hearing
- Who Is Abrego Garcia?
- The Deportation Debacle
- Costa Rica Offers Safe Haven
- Judge’s Frustration Mounts
- Timeline of a Chaotic Case
- What Happens Next?
- Sources
A ‘Topsy-Turvy’ Hearing
In a federal courtroom in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Monday, October 6, 2025, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis didn’t mince words. After repeated evasions from government attorneys over basic facts about Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s deportation, she called the day “topsy-turvy, inside-out”—and warned she might release him from custody if officials couldn’t produce a credible deportation plan by Wednesday.
“Either you have done it or you haven’t,” Judge Xinis told Justice Department lawyer Ernesto H. Molina, referring to preparations for Abrego Garcia’s removal. “I have asked you a direct question and you don’t have it. Then the answer is no. That’s how the court works.”
Who Is Abrego Garcia?
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who lived in the U.S. without legal status but was shielded from deportation by a 2019 immigration court order. Despite that protection, the Trump administration wrongfully removed him to El Salvador in what it later admitted was an “administrative error.”
He spent months in Salvadoran prisons before the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in June 2025, ordering his return. Since then, his case has spiraled through federal courts, marked by shifting deportation destinations, criminal charges later deemed “vindictive,” and now, a judge’s growing impatience with bureaucratic opacity.
The Deportation Debacle
After his return, Abrego Garcia was briefly released—only to be re-detained by ICE days later. Initially, the government claimed it would deport him to Uganda. On Monday, that changed: officials said Eswatini, a small southern African nation formerly known as Swaziland, was “the only country on the table.”
But there’s a problem: Eswatini hasn’t guaranteed it won’t send him back to El Salvador—where Abrego Garcia says his life is in danger. Meanwhile, Costa Rica has offered him legal residence and a binding promise not to repatriate him.
Costa Rica Offers Safe Haven
“Why is the government trying to send him across the Atlantic Ocean when it can send him this afternoon to Costa Rica?” asked Simon Y. Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys.
When Judge Xinis turned to the government lawyer and asked, “How about Costa Rica?” Molina replied he needed more time—a response that only deepened the judge’s skepticism.
Judge’s Frustration Mounts
During the hearing, Judge Xinis granted the government a 30-minute recess to produce evidence of active deportation coordination—such as travel document requests or diplomatic correspondence. All they returned with were emails notifying Abrego Garcia’s lawyers of a planned removal to Eswatini.
“It looks like a trick bag,” the judge said, suggesting the government might be using the pretense of imminent deportation to justify indefinite detention without real plans to carry it out.
Timeline of a Chaotic Case
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Immigration court grants Abrego Garcia protection from deportation |
| Early 2025 | Trump administration deports him to El Salvador anyway |
| June 2025 | U.S. Supreme Court orders his return to the U.S. |
| August 2025 | Released after two judges reject criminal detention |
| Late August 2025 | Re-detained by ICE; told he’ll be sent to Uganda |
| Oct 6, 2025 | Judge Xinis demands proof of deportation plan—or release |
What Happens Next?
The government now has until Wednesday to show concrete steps toward deporting Abrego Garcia—or face his release. If freed, he would likely remain under supervision while his immigration status is resolved.
Legal experts say the case highlights a troubling pattern: the weaponization of immigration detention through procedural delays and shifting justifications. “This isn’t law enforcement,” said one immigration advocate. “It’s administrative theater with someone’s freedom on the line.”
For Abrego Garcia, after years of wrongful imprisonment and legal limbo, the next 48 hours could finally bring clarity—or more chaos.
