A Salvadoran man at the center of a row over President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants was released from US immigration custody on Thursday after a lengthy legal battle, his lawyer said.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident married to an American woman, was wrongly deported in March and then returned to the United States, where he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A federal judge ordered his release on Thursday and Abrego Garcia's lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, confirmed to AFP that he had been freed.

"He's released," Sandoval-Moshenberg said in an email.

Abrego Garcia's case has become a lightning rod for those opposed to the Trump administration's efforts to carry out mass deportations across the country.

He was among more than 200 people sent

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