Ever since the federal government whisked him onto an El Salvador-bound plane on March 15, Kilmar Abrego Garcia launched a potent legal counteroffensive.
First, Abrego secured five separate court orders for his release from El Salvador’s CECOT prison all the way up to the Supreme Court, and the government’s attempt to prosecute him upon his return has met defeat after defeat in court. Abrego repeatedly won his right to pretrial release pending trial, and the government’s attempts to hold him in immigration custody instead just fell flat.
In a roughly 30-minute conversation, Allison Gill and I untie the tangled history of the case and preview what happens next.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis directed Donald Trump’s Justice Department to inform her of the government’s compliance with her order.
