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A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García because the 90‑day detention window has expired and, the judge found, the government lacks a feasible deportation plan. This decision effectively bars ICE from taking custody of a man who was already deported by mistake last year and then returned to the United States amid a raft of legal and political maneuvering. Conservatives who care about enforcing the law should be alarmed that a technicality and judicial discretion can so bluntly tie the hands of immigration officers.
The backstory reads like a bureaucratic horror show: Ábrego García was initially granted protection from removal in 2019 after an immigration judge found he faced credible threats from gangs in El Salvador, yet he was nonetheless deported in March 2025 in what officials later called an administrative error. Public pressure and litigation forced his return to the United States in mid‑2025, but the episode exposed how chaotic and error‑ridden the system can be when agencies fail to coordinate. Americans who expect competent, honest enforcement deserve better than a revolving door of mistakes that only emboldens lawbreakers and frustrates victims of real crime.
Judge Paula Xinis scolded the government for proposing removals to distant African nations and for “one empty threat after another,” saying there was no good reason to believe removal was likely in the foreseeable future. The court even noted that Costa Rica — a country willing to accept Ábrego García — was ignored by officials, raising real questions about whether the Department of Homeland Security was pursuing a sincere removal plan or simply playing procedural games. For those who back secure borders and accountable government, this looks less like justice and more like a system that rewards confusion and excuses.
Complicating the matter, Ábrego García faces a federal human‑smuggling indictment in Tennessee to which he has pleaded not guilty, and his criminal case remains pending even as the immigration case twists through courts. Conservatives are right to demand that law enforcement be allowed to do its job without being hamstrung by shifting judicial rulings that substitute policy preferences for clear enforcement. If the Justice Department believes it has evidence of criminal conduct, it should pursue those charges transparently and not use detention as a political cudgel.
What we are watching is not merely one man’s fate but a dangerous precedent: when courts, agencies, and political actors punt responsibility, honest citizens pay the price through eroded rule of law and insecure borders. Washington’s elites on both sides will posture while hardworking Americans see the consequences — a federal government unable or unwilling to follow its own procedures or to present a credible plan for removal. The hard truth is that mistakes must be fixed, but fixing them cannot mean shielding every person with a tangled legal status from accountability.
Patriots who love the Constitution should insist on two things: first, that immigration and law enforcement agencies be reformed so administrative blunders like a wrongful deportation never happen again; and second, that judges respect the need for a functioning enforcement regime by insisting the government show a real, timely plan before indefinitely detaining someone. If political leaders on Capitol Hill truly care about the rule of law, they will stop the showboating, demand answers, and pass commonsense reforms that protect communities and restore order at the border.
