The order from US District Judge Paula Xinis means that Abrego Garcia will at least temporarily be allowed to return to his Maryland home despite repeated declarations from Trump administration officials that he would never again be free in the US.

The judge’s decision to free Abrego Garcia marked the latest major development in a saga that began in March when Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to a prison in his native El Salvador and then brought back to the US in June to face human smuggling charges.

His case has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, with Trump officials portraying Abrego Garcia as a danger to public safety and critics accusing the administration of trampling legal rights in its bid to deport millions living illegally in the United States.

Abrego Garcia, 30, has been held in immigration detention since August, when immigration authorities arrested him shortly after being released from custody in his criminal case.

Xinis found that he was entitled to release in part because an immigration judge had not issued a formal deportation order in 2019, when he was barred from being deported to El Salvador because of a risk of gang persecution.