A federal judge on Thursday ordered El Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be immediately released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility where he was being held in Pennsylvania.

The Department of Justice has formally selected Liberia as the removal destination for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, secured through diplomatic assurances, prompting sharp rebuke from Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) who contends the action circumvents Garcia’s due process rights amid pending criminal allegations.

Maryland man Kilmar Armando Ábrego García was released from immigration services on Thursday after a federal judge ordered he be freed from detention immediately. The father is set to return to his family in Maryland after his evening release, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen met Thursday evening with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is being held in an El Salvador prison after wrongly being deported from Maryland. Van Hollen, D-Md., confirmed the meeting in a post on X with a picture of the two talking.

A timeline of how Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation to El Salvador escalated into a sweeping legal and international battle.

Baltimore again served as a backdrop for the contentious immigration battle pitting Kilmar Abrego Garcia against the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement efforts.