A federal judge in Maryland denied the Justice Department’s request to pause Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation fight during the government shutdown.
US District Judge
“I’m just duty-bound to continue it,” she told the lawyers.
The Salvadoran migrant’s situation and complicated legal proceedings have emerged as a symbol of the Trump administration’s hardline — and hotly contested — immigration policies. He rose to prominence after he filed a high-profile lawsuit in March challenging his wrongful deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
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Abrego Garcia is fighting his expulsion from the United States. The government’s latest plan, according to representations by the Justice Department in court, is to send him to Eswatini, a country in southern Africa where he has no ties.
Xinis is weighing whether to order Abrego Garcia released from detention while the case moves forward on the merits. The judge expressed frustration during Monday’s hearing with the government’s inability to provide her with concrete information about what steps, if any, the administration had taken to carry out the Eswatini plan.
The judge set a hearing for Oct. 10 on the release issue and ordered the administration to make at least one official available to testify about the status of deportation efforts.
‘Basic Questions’
“I’m asking you really basic questions,” she admonished the government’s lawyers during the hearing, calling it “remarkable” that they were suggesting they couldn’t “find a soul” with information.
The government shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Congress failed to reach a budget deal before the start of the new fiscal year. The Justice Department has been scaling back its work on civil cases and asking judges to delay deadlines or put cases fully on hold.
The administration’s attorneys have secured extensions in a number of cases with little fanfare, but in some, such as Abrego Garcia’s case, they’ve faced pushback from judges and opposing counsel who contend that some matters are too time-sensitive to delay.
Earlier this year, Abrego Garcia was mistakenly sent to a Salvadoran prison despite an immigration judge’s order that he couldn’t be returned to his home country. The administration protested court orders to facilitate his return to the US, but eventually brought him back only after bringing a criminal case charging him with human smuggling. He has pleaded not guilty.
The judge handling the criminal case in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia released pending trial, and then immigration authorities took him into custody again in order to try to again deport him. He’s been pursuing the civil case in Maryland to contest the immigration-related removal.
Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. in Tennessee last week approved Abrego Garcia’s request to gather evidence about the criminal case, finding that his lawyers reasonably alleged at this early stage that it “may stem from retaliation” by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
The case is Abrego Garcia v. Noem, 25-cv-2780, US District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).
(Updated with details from the hearing.)
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Anthony Aarons, Elizabeth Wasserman
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