Here's a caveat: sometimes officials have followed the law, which ultimately led Abrego Garcia returned and this time released him by court order. But when books are written about this and other travesties, we'll likely learn that Miller lost internal battles about how far to push the envelope, and Trump lost interest at key moments or was swayed by other advisers who didn't want to descend into complete lawlessness. Everything we have seen strongly supports this interpretation, including what was revealed in Zinis' extraordinary ruling.
So what does this give us? Oddly enough, it appears that the original deletion order for Abrego Garcia can be found, perhaps because the “withholding of removal” order is all that the judge originally filed. So on Thursday evening, officials found another immigration judge who issued a new removal order. As notes for discussion David Kurtz explainsIt was also extremely cynical, as they used the status of these judges as officials of the executive branch to achieve a dubious, predetermined result. And indeed, Xinis too temporarily ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him on that basis Friday morning.
At this point, Abrego Garcia could be deported to Costa Rica, as he requested. Or he could remain free on bail in the US while he faces prosecution for human trafficking (and is enough signs what is this too malicious accusation). We don't know what will happen next. This is all unprecedented.
