A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from re-detaining Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, clearing the way for him to attend a crucial court hearing in Nashville next week. The ruling represents the latest development in a complex legal battle that has drawn national attention.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Tuesday converted her previous emergency order into a longer-term injunction, ruling that the administration failed to provide any “good reason to believe” they could remove Abrego Garcia to a third country in the “reasonably foreseeable future.” Instead, she criticized officials for making “one empty threat after another” to deport him to African nations with “no real chance of success.”

The decision ensures Abrego Garcia can participate in an upcoming hearing where a separate federal judge will consider dismissing his criminal case on grounds of “vindictive” and selective prosecution.

“Respondents have done nothing to show that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is consistent with due process,” Judge Xinis wrote in her order. She detailed the administration’s unsuccessful attempts to deport Abrego Garcia to several African countries, including Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda, and briefly, Ghana, between August and December.

Xinis also noted that government officials “refused to procure Abrego Garcia’s immediate removal to Costa Rica,” which he had identified as his preferred destination, instead pursuing what she characterized as “phantom removals” to African nations.

The case has become a focal point of immigration policy debates since March, when Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in what Trump officials acknowledged was an “administrative error” that violated a 2019 court order. Judge Xinis subsequently ordered his immediate return to the United States.

Abrego Garcia was eventually brought back to the U.S. in June, where he was taken into federal custody in Nashville on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop. The timing of these charges has raised significant legal questions, as the Justice Department later revealed it had opened the criminal investigation and presented it to a grand jury while Abrego Garcia was detained in a Salvadoran prison—the same period during which government lawyers were telling the court they were powerless to secure his return.

The upcoming Nashville hearing will focus on a motion to dismiss Abrego Garcia’s criminal case for “vindictive” and selective prosecution. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously ruled in October that Abrego Garcia had established a “reasonable likelihood” that the criminal case against him resulted from vindictive prosecution by the Justice Department. Crenshaw ordered the administration to produce internal documents and government witnesses to testify about the decision to bring the case.

Trump administration officials have been openly critical of Judge Xinis and other federal judges presiding over deportation cases, accusing them of exceeding their authority. “This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to an earlier emergency order.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday’s ruling.

The case highlights ongoing tensions between the judiciary and executive branch over immigration enforcement policies, particularly in high-profile cases that test the limits of administrative discretion and constitutional protections for due process.