| December 22, 2025 08:03:17 AM |
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| December 22, 2025 08:03:17 AM |
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A federal judge on Monday will hear arguments about whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be returned to immigration custody after being free for just over a week. Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
Dear Ground Game reader,
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With gratitude, Meg Kinnard
National politics reporter |
Kilmar Abrego Garcia listens during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough) |
Judge mulling custody question for Kilmar Abrego Garcia |
Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador has become a lightning rod for both sides of the immigration debate, had been in immigration detention since August. In that time, the government has said it planned to deport him to several different countries but has made no effort to deport him to the one country he has agreed to go to: Costa Rica.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has even accused the government of misleading her by falsely claiming that Costa Rica was unwilling to take him. The judge’s Dec. 11 order that Abrego Garcia be released from immigration custody also concluded that the immigration judge who heard his case in 2019 had failed to issue a removal order, something needed to send him outside the U.S.
In filings last week, government attorneys argued that, with or without a final order of removal, they are still working to deport Abrego Garcia, so they can legally detain him during the process. Read more. |
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Of note:
Abrego Garcia's attorneys cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that “because immigration proceedings ‘are civil, not criminal’ detention must be ‘nonpunitive.’” They argued that in Abrego Garcia's case, detention is punitive because the government wants to be allowed to hold him indefinitely without a viable plan to deport him. |
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Turning Point showcases discord Republicans will need to navigate |
Vice President JD Vance said Sunday the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America,” declining to condemn a streak of antisemitism that has divided the Republican Party and roiled the opening days of Turning Point USA’s annual convention.
Top voices in the “Make America Great Again” movement are jockeying for influence as Republicans begin considering a future without Trump, and there is no clear path to holding his coalition together. Turning Point leader Erika Kirk, who took the helm after the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk, has endorsed Vance as a potential successor to President Donald Trump, a helpful nod from an influential group with an army of volunteers.
But the tension on display at the four-day gathering foreshadowed the treacherous political waters that Vance, or anyone else who seeks the next Republican presidential nomination, will need to navigate in the coming years. Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro used his Turning Point speech to denounce “charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty,” calling out Tucker Carlson. Taking the stage barely an hour later, the conservative commentator brushed off the criticism, saying the idea of a Republican “civil war” was “totally fake.”
Vance acknowledged the controversies that dominated the Turning Point conference, but he did not define any boundaries for the conservative movement besides patriotism. Read more. |
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Of note:
The Republican Party’s identity has been intertwined with Trump for a decade, but he's constitutionally ineligible to run for reelection despite his musings about serving a third term. So far, it looks like settling that question will come with a lot of fighting among conservatives. The Turning Point conference featured arguments about antisemitism, Israel and environmental regulations, not to mention rivalries between leading commentators.
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Coast Guard is pursuing another tanker off Venezuela, US official says |
The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as the Trump administration appeared to be intensifying its targeting of such vessels connected to the Venezuelan government. The pursuit of the tanker, which was confirmed by a U.S. official briefed on the operation, comes after the U.S. administration announced Saturday it had seized a tanker for the second time in less than two weeks.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the ongoing operation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Sunday’s pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.” The official said the vessel was flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order. Read more.
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Of note:
The targeting of tankers comes as Trump has ordered the Defense Department to carry out a series of attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that his administration alleges are smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States and beyond. At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early September. |
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Erika Kirk greets Vice President JD Vance during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry) |
- On Monday, Trump is scheduled to make an announcement with military officials.
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