Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers ask judge to sanction Trump administration

CNN

21 hours ago

Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked a judge to put severe sanctions on the Trump administration, saying federal officials violated court orders to prove the steps they were taking to attempt to get the wrongfully deported man out of El Salvador for weeks, before he was returned to face criminal charges.
It's the latest move in the court fight over Abrego Garcia and whether the Trump administration appropriately handled the political and legal maelstrom.
Abrego Garcia's lawyers say the Trump administration's violations of the court have been 'egregious' because it repeatedly refused to provide any evidence around how it was complying with court orders.
'The Government did virtually nothing,' they said in a court filing late Wednesday night.
'Nearly sixty days, ten orders, three depositions, three discovery disputes, three motions for stay, two hearings, a week-long stay, and a failed appeal later, the Plaintiffs still have seen no evidence to suggest that the Defendants took any steps, much less 'all available steps,' to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the United States 'as soon as possible' so that his case could be handled as it would have been had he not been unlawfully deported,' Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote.
Documents the administration turned over to Abrego Garcia's team in recent weeks had largely been already in the public record, and assertions that the State Department was discussing his return with the Salvadoran government were vague, the lawyers added.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the US last week to face new federal criminal charges that accuse him of trafficking undocumented migrants across states. He is currently in federal custody and has a court hearing set for Friday in Tennessee — where he is charged — so that he may enter a plea and for a judge to decide if he will remain behind bars in the US.
But District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland had spent weeks before the indictment was unsealed demanding the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and lawyers from the Department of Justice produce records and statements showing how the efforts were unfolding behind the scenes.
'The lengths the government has gone to resist discovery relating to these core questions raises a strong inference that the Government is trying to hide its conduct from the scrutiny of this Court, the Plaintiffs, and the public,' Abrego Garcia's lawyers wrote. 'What the Government improperly seeks to hide must be exposed for all to see.'
Abrego Garcia's attorneys want Xinis to fine the government and some of its officials and either again order the administration to turn over documents or bring in a third-party 'special master' investigator to look at the administration's compliance with the court's orders.
Abrego Garcia was mistakenly sent to the CECOT prison in El Salvador in March, despite a US immigration court order that said he could not be deported there for his own safety. Even President Donald Trump himself resisted stepping in, despite court orders that Abrego Garcia be returned and given due process.
The case has become emblematic of the Trump administration's hasty attempts to send migrants out of the US without proper constitutionally-guaranteed proceedings. It's also among a small group of cases related to the hardline immigration approach where judges are now considering sanctions or even holding federal officials in contempt of court for failing to abide by judicial orders.
Weeks ago Xinis told the Trump administration it must 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return and provide information about how it was doing so. She also ordered a handful of administration officials to sit for depositions. While those sworn interviews happened behind closed doors, the officials refused to answer many questions, citing privileges, Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote on Wednesday.
'More than 90 times, the Government instructed them not to answer on the basis of an asserted privilege,' Abrego Garcia's lawyers told the judge about the depositions. 'And when they did answer, the witnesses uniformly testified that they lacked personal knowledge of the very topics concerning which they had previously provided sworn declarations.'
The lawyers also argue that the DHS' top attorney, acting general counsel Joseph Mazzara, may have given untruthful testimony.
The Trump administration hasn't yet responded to the accusations made in court. CNN has also reached out to DHS for comment.