Federal judge blocks government from detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia after release
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives for his first check-in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Office the day after a federal judge ordered his release from a detention in Pennsylvania, December 12, 2025 in Baltimore. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will not be detained by immigration authorities, according to his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, after a federal judge blocked the government from re-detaining him right before he was scheduled to appear before immigration authorities in Baltimore.
“Shortly after midnight, we filed an application for temporary restraining order with Judge Xinis, and at 7:30am she granted the temporary restraining order prohibiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia from being re arrested at this check in today. As a result of that, I’m pleased to announce that Mr. Abrego Garcia will be walking back out those doors again later this morning,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg.
Xinis granted an emergency temporary restraining order request from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys because an immigration judge appeared to add a removal order to Abrego Garcia’s immigration record.
When Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released Thursday she said that the government could not hold him in immigration detention because he was never issued a removal order.
But that night, an immigration judge issued a rare decision saying that he had “corrected” an error in Abrego Garcia’s record and appeared to add a removal order.
Immigration judge Philip Taylor said in his order that Abrego Garcia’s order of removal was “was erroneously omitted” from a 2019 immigration hearing, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
“The order of removal to El Salvador, which should have preceded the order granting him withholding of removal to El Salvador, was erroneously omitted,” Taylor said.
In her order on Thursday, Xinis said that “since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.
“The circumstances of Abrego Garcia’s detention since he was released from criminal custody cannot be squared with the ‘basic purpose’ of holding him to effectuate removal,” Xinis said.
Xinis, citing reporting from ABC News and others, said the government at the same time could have removed Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica, his preferred country of removal.
“Respondents’ calculated effort to take Costa Rica ‘off the table’ backfired,” Xinis wrote. “Within 24 hours, Costa Rica, through Minister Zamora Cordero, communicated to multiple news sources that its offer to grant Abrego Garcia residence and refugee status is, and always has been, firm, unwavering, and unconditional.”
Xinis in August blocked the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the United States until the habeas case challenging his removal was resolved in court. The habeas petition was granted Thursday.
“The history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary,” Xinis wrote in her decision Thursday.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey speaks with a constituent at a campaign event on October 26, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he has issued an order to prepare the state’s National Guard while urging peaceful protest after an Immigration and Customs Enforcementagent fatally shot a woman in her car during operations in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Walz and the Minneapolis mayor are disputing the government’s claims surrounding what led up to the shooting, which killed a 37-year-old woman.
“We have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever,” Walz said during a news conference, decrying the shooting as “preventable” and “unnecessary.”
According to Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, the woman was allegedly “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers” when an ICE officer fatally shot her Wednesday morning.
Following the shooting, a large crowd gathered in the area, which is less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
The governor said he has issued a “warning order” to prepare the Minnesota National Guard, saying there are soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed “if necessary,” while urging “peaceful resistance.”
“I want Minnesotans to hear this from me: The desire to get out in the protest and to speak up to this administration of how wrong this is, that is a patriotic duty at this point in time, but it needs to be done safely,” he said.
“I feel your anger, I am angry. They want a show, we can’t give it to them,” he said.
President Donald Trump said the officer acted in “self defense.”
“The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,” Trump posted on social media.
The Minneapolis mayor, however, at an impassioned news conference, said that he saw video of the incident and claimed the agent’s actions were not self-defense.
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying — getting killed,” Mayor Jacob Frey said.
Frey said it does not appear the victim was driving her car toward the agent and using her car as a weapon. She was a U.S. citizen who was “an observer” and was “watching out for our immigrant neighbors,” according to Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez.
Minneapolis police said preliminary information indicates that she was in her car and blocking the road.
“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off,” police said. “At least two shots were fired … the vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”
“There is nothing to indicate that this woman was the target of any law enforcement investigation or activity,” police added.
The woman had gunshot wounds to the head and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, according to city officials.
The governor said he doesn’t have a “definitive ID” of the woman.
In describing the shooting, McLaughlin said that an ICE officer, “fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
“He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers,” she said, referring to the woman as part of a group of “rioters.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the incident was an “act of domestic terrorism.”
“What had happened was our ICE officers were out in enforcement action, they got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis,” she said during remarks at a press briefing in Texas. “They were attempting to push out their vehicle, and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle.”
Frey said his message to ICE is to “get the f— out” of Minneapolis.
“We’ve dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis,” Frey said.
Walz said during Wednesday’s briefing that he has reached out to Noem and is awaiting a response.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working in conjunction with the FBI to investigate the shooting, according to Commissioner Bob Jacobson.
“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy, so any speculation about what had happened would be just that, and we will not engage in speculation,” Jacobson said during the briefing.
Walz said earlier on X that the state will “ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”
The FBI said in a statement, “Consistent with our investigative protocol, the incident is under review, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners.”
The Twin Cities are seeing a massive deployment of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents to conduct immigration enforcement and fraud investigations, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.
As many as 2,000 agents from ICE and HSI could be headed to the Minneapolis area, but a source cautioned that the number of agents could change.
Sources have told ABC News that as many as 600 HSI agents are being deployed and 1,400 ICE agents could be deployed as part of the increased enforcement operation.
Noem was on the ground in Minneapolis on Tuesday, conducting immigration enforcement.
The Trump administration has zeroed in on accusations of fraud at Somali-run childcare centers in recent weeks.
At the end of a House Oversight Committee hearing on alleged social services fraud in Minnesota on Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., put forth a motion to subpoena DHS for all documents and footage related to Wednesday’s deadly ICE shooting.
Ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called it a “horrific killing.”
“I encourage folks to watch those videos and see what’s happened for themselves,” he said. “And I’m hopeful that this committee investigates this incident and that we have full accountability.”
ABC News’ Laura Romero and Emily Chang contributed to this report.
(MIAMI) — Megan Thee Stallion is expected to take the witness stand at a federal courthouse in Miami in connection with a defamation lawsuit that the hip-hop star filed in October 2024 against Milagro Cooper, a social media commentator and blogger known as “Milagro Gramz.”
Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, alleges in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, that Cooper participated in a targeted and coordinated social media campaign to harass, intimidate and defame Pete, in concert with rapper Tory Lanez, who was convicted of shooting and injuring Pete in a July 2020 incident.
“Defendant is the longtime mouthpiece of Daystar Peterson (aka ‘Tory Lanez’), a convicted felon who shot Ms. Pete in 2020 and has been working with him ever since to falsely brand Ms. Pete an incompetent liar and alcoholic,” the complaint alleges. ” As part of their vendetta, Defendant spreads vicious and hateful rumors about Ms. Pete to Defendant’s over 100,000 social media followers, causing Ms. Pete extreme emotional distress. Defendant’s malicious intent is clear: discredit and shame Ms. Pete because of her testimony at Mr. Peterson’s trial, which ultimately landed him in prison where he is currently serving a ten year sentence for shooting Ms. Pete.”
Peterson is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit but was asked to give a deposition ahead of the trial. ABC News has reached out to his attorneys but requests for comment were not returned.
The complaint, which was reviewed by ABC News, accuses Cooper of defamation, promoting an altered sexual depiction of Pete, cyberstalking and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Cooper denied wrongdoing in legal documents responding to the lawsuit. ABC News reached out to Cooper’s attorneys, but requests for comment were not returned.
In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Cooper’s attorneys argued that “multiple allegations of ‘defamation’ are an overreach,” and alleged that some statements made by Cooper are “substantially true,” while others are “clearly opinion and/or rhetorical hyperbole and therefore not actionable as a matter of law.”
The complaint argues that Cooper conspired with Peterson to “punish” Pete for testifying in Peterson’s trial where the hip-hop star named him as her shooter.
Peterson, who chose not to take the witness stand during the 2022 trial, pleaded not guilty and his defense attorneys argued during the trial that he was not the shooter.
Peterson was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole on Aug. 8, 2023 after he was convicted in December 2022 of felony assault for shooting and injuring Pete in both of her feet in an incident that occurred in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020.
His legal team appealed his conviction but it was upheld on Nov. 12 by a federal court in Los Angeles.
Court records show that Peterson and his attorney were held in contempt of court by a magistrate judge earlier this week for failing to answer questions during a deposition related to Pete’s lawsuit against Cooper. Peterson was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
“As a result of Mr. Peterson’s deliberate evasion during three attempted depositions, and his attorney’s coordinated scheme with him to object, obstruct, coach, and deny the opportunity for questioning at his third deposition, both Mr. Peterson and his attorney are hereby held in contempt of court,” court documents said.
ABC News reached out to Peterson’s attorney Crystal Morgan for comment.
In her lawsuit against Cooper, Pete is seeking an unspecified amount in “compensatory damages, punitive damages, statutory damages, attorney’s fees, costs, interest, and all other damages as are just and proper as well as declaratory judgment to remedy Defendant’s unlawful behavior.”
A photo of Theresa Fusco is shown during a press briefing with the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, Oct. 15, 2025. ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Authorities in suburban New York believe they have closed a murder case that had been open for more than 40 years.
In November 1984, 16-year-old Theresa Fusco disappeared after she was fired from her job working the snack bar at a roller rink in Lynbrook. Three men who had been convicted of her death were exonerated in 2003 based on DNA evidence.
On Wednesday, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced 63-year-old man Richard Bilodeau has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Fusco’s death. The indictment further charges him with second-degree murder during the commission or attempted commission of first-degree rape.
A discarded smoothie cup was the critical piece of evidence in the nearly 41-year-old murder case that Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said “sent shockwaves through the tight-knit Lynbrook community” and a fear that young women were at risk.
Investigators had been surveilling the suspect for months when a break came in February. Bilodeau went to get a smoothie not far from his home in Center Moriches and investigators recovered the discarded cup and straw from the trash and brought it for testing, officials said.
“The DNA from that straw, Richard Bilodeau’s DNA, was a match,” Donnelly said during a press briefing Wednesday. “The DNA in this case led us straight to Richard Bilodeau.”
Donnelly said Bilodeau, who lived by himself in Center Moriches, had been under investigation since early 2024.
He was arrested Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge. Donnelly said he denied knowing Fusco, “but science proves otherwise.”
“Through his denials that he had ever known her name, who she was, he made kind of a flippant comment about the 1980s. He said, ‘People got away with murder.’ Well, I’ll tell you something, Mr. Bilodeau, I’ve got you now,” Donnelly said.
Fusco’s father said he “never gave up hope” and the indictment “brings closure” to him and his family.
“It’s heartbreaking to go through this over and over again, but this seems like a finalization and I’m very grateful, very grateful, for me and my family to come to an end like this, than to constantly be a cold case situation,” Tom Fusco said during Wednesday’s press briefing.
In 1984, Bilodeau was a 23-year-old living with his grandparents in Lynbrook, a mile from Hot Skates, the roller rink where Fusco had worked, officials said.
Fusco’s body was found buried under leaves and shipping pallets. Police said she had been strangled, sexually assaulted and beaten.
The murder stunned her Nassau County community, especially when two other teens went missing in the same area, which became known as the Lynbrook Triangle, a local take on the Bermuda Triangle, known for its disappearances.
Three men were charged in Fusco’s death, convicted and sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.
The men insisted they were innocent, and, in 2003, DNA technology caught up to the case and confirmed semen found on the girl’s body was from another man and their convictions were vacated.
One of the wrongly convicted, John Restivo, told “Good Morning America” in 2003, “For years … someone would ask me how I’m doing today. I’d say, ‘Not good, I woke up on the wrong side of the wall this morning.’ Yesterday I was able to say, ‘I woke up on the right side of the wall this morning.'”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
