The wrongly deported Maryland father was returned to the U.S. earlier this month but immediately slapped with criminal charges.

The government on Sunday appealed a federal judge's order to release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia pending trial on human smuggling charges, another chapter in the saga of the Maryland father who had been erroneously deported to El Salvador.

The judge acknowledged in her ruling that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is "little more than an academic exercise" because ICE will likely detain him.