US judge orders Kilmar Abrego released from immigration detention

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered Kilmar Abrego, whose wrongful deportation became a ​flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, released from ‌immigration detention as he awaits a potential second deportation.

The order from U.S. ‌District Judge Paula Xinis means that Abrego 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 U.S.

The judge’s decision to free Abrego marked the latest major development in a saga that ‍began in March when Abrego was wrongfully deported to a prison in his native El Salvador and then brought back to the ​U.S. 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 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, 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.

(Reporting by Andrew ‌Goudsward; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)