Since taking office, President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration and deportation agenda has faced continued resistance and obstruction from liberal judges across the country.
Now, in what the Trump administration views as a baffling act of blatant lawfare, a magistrate judge decided to release accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia from federal custody, as Breitbart reports.
The subject of much legal back-and-forth in recent months, Abrego Garcia is facing a slew of criminal allegations that include not just entering and remaining in the U.S. illegally, but also the solicitation of child pornography, involvement in the murder of a rival gang member’s relative, as well as arms, drug, and human trafficking.
Earlier this year, Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, a move that spurred legal challenges and outrage from Democrat lawmakers, and his case led to additional wrangling over Trump’s attempt to use the Aliens Enemies Act to facilitate removals from the country.
Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes’ decision to free Abrego Garcia from federal detention last week is, according to her critics, just the latest example of her liberal activism from the bench and in her life outside the courtroom.
Holmes’ background includes time spent as president of the Nashville Bar Association and as a leading voice in the “National Association of Women Judges,” a group known for its strong leftward leanings.
She also served as the Judge’s Chair for the 2018 Legal Aid Society’s Campaign for Equal Justice, an organization that has been outspoken on behalf of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and which has provided legal services to illegal aliens, pointing to a significant conflict of interest.
As Fox News reports, after Abrego Garcia was released from custody, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials informed his attorneys that he may be poised for deportation to Uganda after he reportedly declined to accept a plea agreement that would have sent him to Costa Rica.
ICE is said to have informed Abrego Garcia’s team that he could be deported in “no less than 72 hours” and that he was required to report for a check-in at the agency’s Baltimore office on Monday.
The agency specified Uganda as Abrego Garcia’s next potential destination due to the fact that the African country had just reached an agreement with the United States government to accept third-party deportations under certain conditions.
Whether the administration will act on the threat and send the controversial migrant to the far-flung country remains unclear, however.
The Department of Homeland Security’s response to Abrego Garcia’s release was unsurprisingly one of frustration,
Secretary Kristi Noem took to X to lament the fact that someone she deemed a “monster” was freed by “activist liberal judges.”
Indicating the administration’s resolve to remove Abrego Garcia once and for all, Noem stated, “We will not stop fighting till this Salvadoran man faces justice and is OUT of our country.”
