Judge says decision on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s fate expected by February

WASHINGTON - In the continuing saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador — a federal judge in Maryland said Wednesday that she expects to decide his fate by February. 

What we know:

In a brief 20-minute hearing with Garcia’s lawyers and DOJ attorneys, Judge Paula Xinis said she wants to hear arguments on whether Garcia’s 2019 order of removal became final in January of last year.

That could change the calculus of whether to allow the government to re-detain him.

Xinis said after she hears arguments on that narrow issue, she will issue a decision by February 12, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Xinis reiterated that her current order blocking the government from re-detaining Garcia for deportation remains in place.

The backstory:

Abrego Garcia, who has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, immigrated illegally from El Salvador as a teenager. 

In 2019, an immigration judge gave him protection from deportation, finding he faced danger in his home country. But in March, he was deported to El Salvador anyway in what a government attorney later called an administrative error. 

The administration returned him to the United States in June but has since pursued deportation to a third country.

Abrego Garcia also faces human smuggling charges in federal court in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing the charges amount to "selective or vindictive prosecution."