Kilmar Abrego Garcia thanked his supporters gathered outside Baltimore's ICE field office Friday morning, as he appeared for a check-in one day after his release from custody.

"I am grateful and give gratitude to all of the people who have been fighting with me since day one, who God has put into my life and my family's life," Abrego Garcia said, addressing the crowd. 

Abrego Garcia arrived back at his Maryland home Thursday after being released from ICE custody in Pennsylvania following a judge's order. The Salvadoran native, who was detained last March after his shift as a sheet metal worker in Baltimore and mistakenly deported to El Salvador, was ordered to check in at the George H. Fallon Federal Building at 8 a.m. on Friday.

"I spent time and celebrated and enjoyed my family, who is everything for me, especially so close to Christmas and being in this holiday season," Abrego Garcia said of the time since his release on Thursday. 

"I stand here today with my head held up high, and I will continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me," he said. "I want to tell everybody who is also suffering family separation, God is with you. This is a process. Keep fighting."

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis granted Abrego Garcia's habeas corpus petition seeking release from custody. The Maryland judge said the Trump administration has been detaining him without an official order to deport him.

"Because respondents have no statutory authority to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country absent a removal order, his removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable, imminent, or consistent with due process," Xinis wrote in Thursday's order.

The last time Abrego Garcia was released in August, after being held in pre-trial detention, he was quickly taken back into immigration custody. There were concerns that he might be rearrested on different legal grounds during his ICE check-in on Friday.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia's attorney, commended Judge Xinis's ruling, saying they are hopeful that his release from custody is a "turning point."

"At the same time, we are mindful of the government's past conduct...and will stay vigilant to ensure that nothing undermines the court's decision," Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

Abrego Garcia is still facing federal criminal charges in Tennessee. A grand jury indicted him in June on two charges of human smuggling, stemming from a November 2022 traffic stop. The trial on those charges is currently set for January.