BALTIMORE, USA: A federal judge blocked US immigration authorities on Friday from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying she feared they might take him into custody again just hours after she had ordered his release from a detention center. The order came as Abrego Garcia appeared at a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office roughly 14 hours after he walked out of immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania. His lawyers had sent an urgent request to the judge, warning that ICE officials could immediately place him back into custody.

The judge overseeing the case said Garcia was held at a notorious El Salvador prison without "lawful authority."

The judge rules Abrego Garcia was "without lawful authority", and will now at least temporarily be allowed to return to his Maryland home.