Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran illegal alien whose deportation became ⁠a flash point, appeared in court Monday as a federal judge extended an order temporarily barring the Trump administration from taking him back into immigration custody.

Abrego Garcia, 30, attended a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, before U.S. District Judge Paula ‍Xinis, who earlier this month ordered his immediate release from ‍an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

It marked the first time Abrego Garcia has appeared at the courthouse as ⁠his lawyers have waged a monthslong legal battle first to have him returned from El Salvador and later to end his detention.

Abrego Garcia became a symbol of the Trump administration's drive for mass deportations when he was sent to a prison in El Salvador ‍in March despite a prior court order barring him from being returned there because ⁠of a risk of persecution.

Abrego Garcia linked arms with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, outside the courthouse and looked upward while a group of supporters chanted "si, se puede" or "yes, you can."

"It has been a tremendous roller coaster of emotions," ⁠said his lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. ​

Abrego Garcia did not address reporters.

Inside ⁠the courthouse, Xinis ordered lawyers for the Trump administration to provide more information by Friday ‍on its plans for Abrego Garcia. The administration has indicated it may seek to take Abrego Garcia back ‌into ICE custody under different legal authority.

Xinis said her temporary order halting that action will remain in effect while she weighs arguments for a ⁠more permanent block.

The ​Trump administration brought Abrego Garcia ‍back to the U.S. in June after the Supreme Court ordered the government to facilitate his return. His return ‍came only after prosecutors secured a criminal indictment charging Abrego Garcia with human smuggling.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.