A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody — an update that comes just days before he is slated to appear in Nashville for a key court date in a separate criminal case.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to convert her previous emergency order blocking ICE from immediately re-detaining Abrego Garcia into a longer-term form of injunctive relief sought by his lawyers.  

She said Tuesday that the Trump administration failed to provide the court with any “good reason to believe” that they plan to remove him to a third country in the “reasonably foreseeable future.” Instead, she said, they “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success.”

The order clears the way for Abrego Garcia to participate in a key hearing in Nashville next week on whether a separate federal judge should dismiss his criminal case on the grounds of “vindictive” and selective prosecution.

ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT

A split photo of President Donald Trump, left, and a protester, right, holding a sign urging the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Getty Images )

Xinis also said the government has “done nothing” to show the court that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is “consistent with due process.”

“Respondents have done nothing to show that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is consistent with due process,” Xinis said Tuesday. 

She ticked through a list of the Trump administration’s efforts to remove Abrego Garcia to a four third countries in Africa country in the months between August, when Abrego was re-detained by ICE, and December, when Xinis ultimately ordered his release.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Xinis said Tuesday that the administration “refused to procure Abrego Garcia’s immediate removal to Costa Rica,” the location he had identified as his preferred third country of removal, in favor of what she said was attempted “phantom removals” by the government to send Abrego to “three (maybe four) African countries.”

“Indeed, since Abrego Garcia secured his release from criminal custody in August 2025, respondents have made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” Xinis said. 

ABREGO GARCIA LAWYERS ASK US JUDGE TO ORDER RETURN TO MARYLAND AMID ONGOING CRIMINAL CASE

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The Trump administration previously tried and failed to remove Abrego Garcia to the African countries of Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda and briefly, Ghana.

Xinis noted in late November that the government could not take any of those steps without the final notice of removal order, which she reiterated Tuesday in the memo order that the government had not obtained. 

“Thus, he must remain on the stringent release conditions already imposed by ICE and in the Tennessee Criminal Matter,” Xinis said. 

US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE ‘SOON’ ON ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING

Abrego Garcia’s status has been at the center of a legal and political maelstrom since March, when he was deported to his home country of El Salvador, in violation of a 2019 court order and in what Trump officials acknowledge was an “administrative error.” Xinis ordered then that Abrego Garcia be “immediately” returned to the U.S.

He was eventually returned to the U.S. in June, where he was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop. 

The Justice Department later told Xinis it had opened the criminal investigation and presented it to a grand jury at the same time that Abrego Garcia was detained in a Salvadoran prison, and at the same time as government lawyers were telling the court that the U.S. was powerless to order his return. 

A woman is seen holding a photo of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. A judge ordered Trump officials to testify in court in January to weigh Abrego’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of ‘vindictive’ prosecution. (Getty Images )

Next week’s hearing in Nashville will be centered on a motion to dismiss Abrego Garcia’s criminal case for “vindictive” and selective prosecution. 

The judge overseeing that case, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, had ruled in October that Abrego Garcia had established a “reasonable likelihood” that the criminal case against him was the result of vindictive prosecution by the Justice Department.

Crenshaw had ordered the Trump administration to produce for the court internal documents and government witnesses to testify about its decision to bring the case. 

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Senior DHS and Justice Department officials previously suggested they would appeal Xinis’s orders. Trump officials have been sharply critical of Xinis and other federal judges presiding over deportation cages, whom they have repeatedly accused of overstepping their authority as a district judge.

“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 the court’s earlier emergency order. 

Strikes have been launched by US forces on three alleged drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, killing 11 people.

US Southern Command posted a video on X of Monday’s operation, along with a statement that “intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations”.

The strikes are the latest in a series of controversial military operations which have brought the number of so-called “narcoterrorists” killed to at least 145 people since early September 2025.

Like most of the military’s statements on the 42 known strikes, US Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

It alleged the three boats were “operated by designated terrorist organisations”.

Two vessels carrying four people each were struck in the eastern Pacific Ocean, while a third boat with three people was hit in the Caribbean Sea.

The military posted videos showing the boats being destroyed.

Donald Trump said the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs.

In a post on X, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth praised the strikes: “Turns out President’s Day – under President Trump – is not a good day to run drugs.”

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The military has not provided evidence that the boats or people killed on Monday were involved in drug trafficking.

In January, the US launched a direct military attack on Venezuela, extraditing Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, transporting them both to New York to face narcoterrorism and other charges, which both deny.

Senate Republicans say they’ve struggled to get out on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections — and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argues Democrats are to blame.

“Their whole goal, and everything is to, you know, force us to stay around, force us to try and get members to take hard votes and just to tie people down so that they can’t be back campaigning,” Thune told Fox News Digital.

Thune had just left a local furniture store in Sioux Falls, S.D., where he touted the economic benefits of the bill, which largely extended Trump’s tax cuts from his original 2017 tax bill, along with making tweaks to the tax code that lawmakers believe would directly benefit small businesses.

DHS SHUTDOWN DRAGS INTO 4TH DAY AS SENATE DEMOCRATS BLOCK FUNDING OVER ICE REFORMS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned that Senate Democrats were trying to tie up Republicans from hitting the campaign trail ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm cycle.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

There, he noted that the owners of Montgomery’s told him, “If people had discretionary income out here, they spend it.”

That was the crux of the colossal bill Republicans rammed through Congress last year. In effect, it was a direct response to the pocketbook issues that largely drove the 2024 election cycle and propelled the GOP to a trifecta of federal control in Washington, D.C.

But time and again, Schumer and his caucus made it difficult for the GOP to get that message out, let alone leave the Capitol, Thune contended. Each day counts during campaign season, and canceling a travel plan or nixing an event can add up for Republicans seeking to stay in power.

THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: ‘WE WILL HAVE A VOTE’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus have not relented in their position as DHS enters its fourth day of being shut down.  (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The latest example is the now-four-day partial government shutdown, where an end doesn’t seem to be in sight as Senate Democrats and the White House engage in ongoing negotiations to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

While this closure hasn’t affected lawmakers’ travel plans — Thune has reminded the Senate to be ready at a moment’s notice should a deal be reached — the previous 43-day shutdown blew up any plans for lawmakers to get out and communicate with voters.

Then there was a carte blanche blockade against Trump’s nominees last year, too, that saw Thune cancel a portion of August recess. That time, particularly ahead of a midterm election cycle, is used by lawmakers to gin up early support for their reelection campaigns.

SCHUMER SAYS DEMS WILL FIGHT VOTER ID PUSH ‘TOOTH AND NAIL,’ BALKS AT DHS ROLE IN ELECTIONS

Sunrise light hits the U.S. Capitol dome on Jan. 2, 2025, as the 119th Congress begins. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“Right now for [Democrats], it’s just all about — everything’s all about politics and making it, you know, really hard for our incumbents who are running for reelection,” Thune said.

Republicans see their ability to sell the “big, beautiful bill” as crucial to their election survival in November.

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And once again, the cost of living and how the Trump administration has dealt with inflation will yet again be a prominent factor in the upcoming election, Thune said.

“I think most voters are, you know, especially the voters that are going to decide probably who controls the House and Senate after November, are going to be kitchen table-type, pocketbook … the bread and butter issues,” Thune said. “They’re economic voters, and so inflation is going to matter, and having more money in their pockets is going to matter.”

Essex Police are assessing information around private flights to and from Stansted Airport following the release of the Epstein files.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week called for UK police to “urgently” re-examine claims women or girls were trafficked to the country aboard flights.

In an article for the New Statesman, Mr Brown said the recently published files relating to Jeffrey Epstein showed the paedophile financier’s jet making 90 flights to or from UK airports, including 15 after his 2008 sex offence conviction.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: “We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files.”

Stansted Airport said: “All private aircraft at London Stansted operate through independent Fixed Base Operators, which handle all aspects of private and corporate aviation in line with regulatory requirements. All immigration and customs checks for passengers arriving on private aircraft are carried out directly by Border Force.

“They use entirely independent terminals not operated by London Stansted and no private jet passengers enter the main airport terminal. The airport does not manage or have any visibility of passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft.”

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New York State Police are investigating after five people were injured in an explosion at the Abundant Life Fellowship church in Boonville, New York.

Church leaders said their pastor and a congregation member were at the building and called first responders just before 10:30 a.m. local time to report “an obvious gas leak.”

While the pastor, congregant and a Boonville Fire Department firefighter were inside the building, an explosion occurred, according to the church and New York State Police.

Authorities said five people were taken to Wynn Hospital in Utica, with the Boonville firefighter and a civilian listed in critical condition.

An explosion was reported at the Abundant Life Fellowship building in Boonville, New York. (Google Maps)

EXPLOSION AT PENNSYLVANIA SENIOR HOME PROMPTS MASS CASUALTY RESPONSE

Three others are being treated for injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

New York State Police said the church sustained “catastrophic damage,” and the church noted the building was nearly fully engulfed in flames and smoke within 15 minutes of the explosion. 

The church was reportedly heated by propane cylinders, but the exact cause of the explosion remains under investigation, according to police.

An explosion at the Abundant Life Fellowship church in Boonville, New York, on Feb. 17, 2026, left several injured, including a firefighter. (Google Maps)

MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE EVALUATED IN TENNESSEE AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK INFILTRATES UNIVERSITY FACILITY

Officials said there is no indication of criminal activity. 

Members of the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Uniform Force remain at the scene assisting with the investigation.

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“Please just pray for peace, especially for Pastor Brandon and MaeLeah,” the church wrote in a Facebook post. “And go ahead and lift a lot of praise for the Lord’s protection over all the things NOT happening at church at the time of this emergency.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to the tragedy on social media, noting she has been briefed.

“State Fire, EMS, and Office of Emergency Management personnel are on the scene,” Hochul wrote in an X post. “Praying for the full recovery of the five individuals injured.”

New York State Police and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to additional inquiries from Fox News Digital.