Federal judge gives DOJ another week in Abrego Garcia deportation case

A federal judge on Wednesday gave the Justice Department another week to provide information on its efforts to return deported illegal migrant and suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis granted the Justice Department a seven-day stay until April 30 to provide testimony and documents related to a case which has drawn a sharp wedge between Democrats and Republicans. 

Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, filed a sealed motion requesting the stay, with lawyers for Abrego Garcia filing a response in opposition to the government’s motion to halt the order. It was under seal in the Maryland federal court.

Xinis didn’t explain her legal reasoning but wrote that it was made “with the agreement of the parties.”

WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BLUNTLY SHOWS WHERE PARTIES STAND ON IMMIGRATION AMID ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION

The administration was also seeking relief from having to file daily updates, but Xinis’ stay did not make any changes to that requirement.

The Wednesday evening order came just one day after Xinis blasted the administration’s lawyers in a written filing for ignoring her orders in refusing to provide the daily status updates on the case, saying that they had been acting in “bad faith” by obstructing the legal process.

“That ends now,” said Xinis, who was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama.

“For weeks, defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders,” Xinis wrote in an eight-page order. “Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions.”

She gave the administration until 6 p.m. Wednesday to provide daily status updates.

The U.S. has claimed that much of the information is protected because it involves state secrets, government deliberations and attorney client privilege. But Xinis has rejected the argument and demanded that the Trump administration provide specific justifications for each claim of privileged information.

Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported last month by the Trump administration, which says he is an MS-13 gang member who also violently beat his wife. President Donald Trump has declared MS-13 a terrorist organization and is looking to deport all members of the violent gang.

Trump displayed a picture of Abrego Garcia’s hand last week, showing what the president said were gang tattoos. Abrego Garcia was also pulled over on Dec. 1, 2022, by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper and was suspected of participating in human smuggling as he had eight individuals in the SUV with no luggage. Abrego Garcia has never been charged with a crime. 

Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys deny that he is a member of the gang, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month, and officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error. However, now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he’s a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. 

He had been living in Maryland with his wife and children.

The Justice Department unveiled documents last week detailing domestic violence allegations that Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, made where she accused him of beating her.

DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS WAS PULLED OVER DRIVING CAR BELONGING TO HUMAN SMUGGLER

Both a federal district court and the U.S. Supreme Court have ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his release and return to the U.S. for proper deportation proceedings.

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019. Two previous judges found he was likely affiliated with MS-13.

One immigration judge in 2019 found that Garcia had not sufficiently refuted evidence of MS-13 affiliation and was thus removable to anywhere other than El Salvador because of a threat from a rival gang. This is called a withholding order.

The Supreme Court acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a 2019 withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador and that the removal to El Salvador was “therefore illegal.” The court stressed that the government must facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador and treat his case as if he were never deported.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said last week that when Trump declared the violent gang a terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia was no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Abrego Garcia would not be allowed back into the U.S. unless El Salvador were to decide otherwise. “He is not coming back to our country.” 

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The case has made national headlines and drawn a wedge between Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s, D-Md., flew to El Salvador last week to meet with Abrego Garcia in an attempt to spur his return to the U.S. Van Hollen’s trip, which he said was paid for by the taxpayers, was followed by another group of Democratic lawmakers traveling to the Central American nation to advocate for his return. That party included Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.