Judge demands information on return for mistakenly deported Maryland man: 'Where is he?'

A federal judge in Maryland is clearly frustrated with the Department of Justice for refusing to provide answers on the current location of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Judge Paula Xinis said Friday that it is "extremely troubling" that a government lawyer couldn’t explain what, if anything, the Trump administration has done to arrange for the return of Abrega Garcia. 

Xinis was noticeably frustrated with lawyers from the Department of Justice appearing before her in Greenbelt, Maryland on Friday. She pressed DOJ for answers to three questions she ordered responses to last night:

  • Abrego Garcia’s current location and custodial status,
  • What steps DOJ has taken to facilitate his return,
  • What additional steps DOJ will take to facilitate his return.

The U.S. government attorney struggled to provide any information about the exact whereabouts of Abrego Garcia, despite Thursday’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the Trump administration must bring him back.

What they're saying:

"Where is he and under whose authority?" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis asked in a Maryland courtroom.

"I’m not asking for state secrets," she said. "All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: where is he?"

Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, said the government doesn’t have evidence to contradict the belief that Abrego Garcia is still in El Salvador.

In response, Xinis said: "That is extremely troubling."

The judge also repeatedly asked Ensign about what has been done to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, asking pointedly: "Have they done anything?" — to which Ensign said he didn’t have personal knowledge of what had been done.

"So that means they’ve done nothing," the judge said, adding later: "Despite this court’s clear directive, your clients have done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia."

Attorneys for the Trump administration had told Xinis in a Friday morning filing that her Friday morning deadline for information was "impractical." They said they haven’t had enough time to review the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Xinis had directed the Trump administration to "take all available steps to facilitate the return" of Abrego Garcia following Thursday’s high court order.

She requested a declaration from the administration that addressed Abrego Garcia’s location and custodial status and what steps the administration has taken and will take to facilitate his return.

The U.S. attorneys also wrote in Friday morning’s filing that it was "unreasonable" for the U.S. government "to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted."

"Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review," the attorneys wrote.

In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the administration’s emergency appeal of Xinis’ April 4 order for Abrego Garcia’s return.

The Salvadoran citizen had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

The Supreme Court has issued a string of rulings on its emergency docket, where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda. In Thursday’s case, the court said Xinis’ order must be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad.

"The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador," the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

The backstory:

The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.

The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it. The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct "its egregious error" and was "plainly wrong" to suggest it could not bring him home.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an "emotional rollercoaster" for their family and the entire community.

"I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home," she said.

Xinis’ April 4 order said the government’s decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appeared to be "wholly lawless."

"There is little to no evidence to support a ‘vague, uncorroborated’ allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang," the judge wrote.

The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month. He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.

What's next:

The judge has considerable power to order compliance and possibly begin contempt proceedings if she believes DOJ is not complying with her order.

There are two types of contempt of court — civil and criminal. Civil means the court uses fines to try to force compliance. Criminal can include penalties up to jail time. It’s rare, but not entirely unheard of, for government officials to be held in civil contempt of court.

But that’s not something that happens right away — there is a process. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say they hope DOJ complies before it comes to that.

The Source: This story includes reporting from FOX 5's Katie Barlow as well as reporting from the Associated Press. 

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