BALTIMORE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia walked away after a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Friday to the cheers of a crowd assembled outside. A federal judge had ordered that immigration officials could not detain him.
Abrego Garcia appeared for the appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, some 14 hours after he was released from detention on a judge’s orders. His lawyers had asked the judge to block authorities from detaining him again and he walked out of the building surrounded by cheering supporters after the appearance, then left without commenting.
And they could have just avoided all these losses by just not sending this particular guy to that particular country like the pre-existing order said. Or to admit the mistake and bring him back when it was found out. Their inability to just say “we made a mistake and are fixing it” made this a much bigger problem.
That’s the Roy Cohn strategy for you.