Latest news with #JudgeXinis
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge demands DOJ explain Abrego Garcia plans: ‘It's like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall'
A federal judge on Monday scrutinized the Trump administration's plan for Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he's released from criminal custody as soon as next week, ordering the government to produce a witness to answer more questions. 'It's like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall trying to figure out what's going to happen next week,' U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said. Abrego Garcia was brought back from El Salvador last month, after drawing national attention for being mistakenly deported there in mid-March. He remains detained in Tennessee on human smuggling charges but could be released ahead of trial as soon as July 16. At Monday's hearing, government attorney Jonathan Guynn said in the scenario Abrego Garcia is released, he would be immediately detained by immigration authorities. Though no final decision has been made, Guynn said the current plan is to initiate proceedings to remove him to a country other than El Salvador, known as a third-country removal. 'He can be removed elsewhere,' Guynn noted, since Abrego Garcia is only protected from deportation to El Salvador. Late last month, the White House rejected the notion it would attempt a third-country removal before Abrego Garcia's trial, calling it 'fake news.' Xinis, an appointee of former President Obama who serves in Greenbelt, Md., ordered the government to produce at least one witness with personal knowledge of the plans for a Thursday afternoon hearing. 'We need to know,' she said. Xinis has been overseeing Abrego Garcia's civil lawsuit filed on his behalf in March, soon after he was deported to El Salvador. A 2019 immigration court ruling had protected him from being removed there, and the administration has blamed the violation of that order on an 'administrative error.' The judge has sparred with the administration ever since over its conduct. With Abrego Garcia now in Tennessee, the administration looked to remove Xinis from the picture by arguing she has no jurisdiction and the case is moot. But Xinis ruled Monday that the lawsuit can move forward, keeping her in the driver's seat as Abrego Garcia's lawyers seek to prevent his deportation and physically return him to Maryland, where he lived for more than a decade after entering the country illegally. 'Without any indication that the same conduct will not repeat itself, I cannot find that the defense has met its formidable burden,' Xinis said. Andrew Rossman, Abrego Garcia's attorney, warned his client could otherwise be swiftly deported in violation of his due process rights. The Supreme Court last month lifted judge-imposed limits on third country removals. 'We do need protection from the government waking up tomorrow and upon Mr. Abrego Garcia's release from criminal custody in Tennessee deporting him to a country they haven't even yet identified,' Rossman said. Xinis acknowledged the administration may ultimately be able to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country or look to wipe the original ruling protecting him from deportation to El Salvador. But Monday's hearing still turned heated at times, particularly when the judge questioned whether Abrego Garcia's indictment was part of the negotiations to get him out of El Salvador. Government attorney Bridget O'Hickey acknowledged it was happening 'in tandem' but insisted 'he was not indicted with the purpose of bringing him back.' O'Hickey is a new member of the government's legal team who joined the Justice Department in May. She became the latest attorney to take a grilling from Xinis, who at one point suggested O'Hickey contradicted testimony the government provided in Tennessee. There, the government indicated the criminal investigation into Abrego Garcia began April 28, weeks after the Supreme Court mandated officials 'facilitate' his return. But O'Hickey suggested it began earlier. 'Now, I have real concerns, as if I haven't for the last three months,' Xinis quipped. Eventually, O'Hickey said she was 'unfamiliar with the timeline' and wasn't contradicting the earlier testimony. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
U.S. Will Try to Deport Abrego Garcia Before He Faces Trial, Justice Dept. Says
The Justice Department said on Monday that Trump officials would immediately begin the process of expelling Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the country again if he is released from custody next week on charges filed after his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March. That plan, laid out by a Justice Department lawyer at a hearing in Federal District Court in Maryland, directly contradicted a statement by the White House last month describing the possibility that the administration might re-deport Mr. Abrego Garcia as 'fake news.' At the hearing, Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing the original civil case emerging from the wrongful deportation, expressed frustration at the government's shifting views of how it planned to handle Mr. Abrego Garcia. The statements in court by the Justice Department lawyer, Jonathan Guynn, further muddied an already unclear picture of Mr. Abrego Garcia's future after the administration abruptly returned him to the United States last month to face criminal charges. At one point, Judge Xinis compared getting certain answers out of the government to 'nailing Jell-O to a wall.' At another point, she described the 'complete chaos' that had arisen from Mr. Abrego Garcia being 'caught' between his civil case in Maryland and his criminal case in Federal District Court in Nashville. Mr. Abrego Garcia is in custody in Nashville, where he has been indicted on charges of taking part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States. Even though a federal magistrate judge has said he can go free because he was not a flight risk or a danger to the community, his lawyers asked that he remain locked up for the moment, fearing that the administration might seek to deport him again. There has been persistent confusion about what might happen to Mr. Abrego Garcia almost from the moment he was brought back from his erroneous expulsion to El Salvador. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Federal prosecutors tell judge they will deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a third country after detention
Federal prosecutors on Thursday told a judge that the Trump administration will begin removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia to deport him a country other than his native El Salvador if he is released from a Tennessee jail. When U.S. Magistrate Judge Paula Xinis asked about the timing of the removal: "30 seconds or 30 days or 30 months…," a federal prosecutor answered that he could only say the removal was not "imminent." Xinis has scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 7. At issue is whether the judge has the jurisdiction to order Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to Maryland. Abrego Garcia's attorneys want Xinis to order the government to return their client to Maryland and to bar U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee proceeds. Abrego Garcia is currently in federal custody and has been indicted on human smuggling charges, which he denies. The lawyers for Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion on Thursday asking a judge to order his return to Maryland, and to block immigration officials from deporting him while his criminal case in Tennessee continues to play out. They told Judge Xinis that they have concerns "that the government may try to remove Mr. Gregor Garcia quickly over the weekend." Another federal judge in Nashville has ruled that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released while awaiting trial. However, on Wednesday, she decided to keep him in custody for at least a few more days over concerns that U.S. immigration officials would swiftly try to deport him again. "If this Court does not act swiftly, then the Government is likely to whisk Abrego Garcia away to some place far from Maryland," Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote in their request to Xinis in Greenbelt, Md. Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland with his American wife and children when he was deported to El Slavador in what the Trump administration called an administrative error. He had been in the United States for over a decade. Meanwhile, the Trump administration maintains that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that he denies. In addition, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed a protective order against her husband in August 2020. The order said their shared son and stepchildren needed protection from Abrego Garcia, accusing him of verbal and physical abuse against her and mental abuse against her children. Earlier this month, Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges.
New York Times
03-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Judges in Deportation Cases Face Evasion and Delay From Trump Administration
In case after case, the Trump administration has taken a similar approach to the numerous legal challenges that have emerged in recent weeks to President Trump's aggressive deportation plans. Over and over, officials have either violated orders or used an array of obfuscations and delays to prevent federal judges from deciding whether violations took place. So far, no one in the White House or any federal agency has had to pay a price for this obstructionist behavior, but penalties could still be in the offing. Three judges in three different courthouses who have been overseeing deportation cases have said they are considering whether to hold the administration in contempt. All of this first came to the fore when Judge Paula Xinis opened an investigation in mid-April into whether Trump officials had violated her order to 'facilitate' the release of a Maryland man who had been wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador. In a sternly worded ruling in Federal District Court in Maryland, Judge Xinis instructed the Justice Department to tell her what steps the White House had taken, and planned to take, to free the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, from Salvadoran custody. And she wanted answers quickly, declaring that her inquiry would take only two weeks. That was seven weeks ago, and lawyers for Mr. Abrego Garcia say they are no closer now than they were then to understanding why their client was sent to El Salvador or what the government has done to fix what officials have acknowledged was an 'administrative error.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge scolds Trump administration in Abrego Garcia case: ‘Exercise in utter frustration'
GREENBELT, MD – A frustrated federal judge scolded the Trump administration on May 16 for refusing to provide details about what it has done to return a Maryland father wrongly deported to El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland said during a hearing that the Justice Department has not made a 'good faith' effort to comply with her request for information on what the government is doing to bring home Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The government's response has been an "exercise in utter frustration,' she said. Attorney Jonathan David Guynn, representing the Trump administration, said the government believes it has complied with the judge's order and that compelling it to provide more details runs the risk of exposing state secrets and damaging U.S. foreign relations. "There's a lot more meat on the bone than you're giving this declaration credit for," he said. But Xinis said the government's position is basically, "Judge, take my word for it." Abrego Garcia, 29, was expelled from the U.S. and sent back to El Salvador in March even though a court order had barred the government from returning him to his native country. The Trump administration admitted in court records that he had been deported by mistake but argues it has no authority to bring him back because he is in a foreign country. The U.S. government contends he is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, but Abrego Garcia and his attorneys say he is not. Xinis has ruled the government acted illegally when it deported him and has ordered the administration to 'facilitate' his return. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in a 9-0 decision on April 10 that the government must begin the process of releasing him. But he remains in a prison outside of San Salvador. Several documents the government has filed in the case have been sealed, with Justice Department citing state secrets privileges that allow it to keep sensitive national security information from the public. Xinis said the government invoked the state secrets privilege 246 times in the case and other privileges at least 1,400 times. But Abrego Garcia's attorneys have noted that several high-ranking officials – including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and even President Donald Trump – have spoken publicly about the case. 'Over and over, the Government has stonewalled Plaintiffs by asserting unsupported privileges – primarily state secrets and deliberative process – to withhold written discovery and to instruct witnesses not to answer even basic questions,' Abrego Garcia's attorneys said in documents filed on May 12. 'Even as the Government speaks freely about Abrego Garcia in public, in this litigation it insists on secrecy,' they said. During the hearing, Xinis read a direct quote from Noem about Abrego Garcia's deportation. "He will not return to our country under the Trump administration," the secretary said. Xinis said that sounds like a direct admission that the government will take no steps to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States. "That's about as clear as it can get," she said. At the end of the hearing, which lasted 2 1/2 hours, Xinis cleared the courtroom so attorneys could discuss the materials that are under seal. She said she would likely issue a written order on the next steps in the case. Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia? The answer is found on the streets where he lived and worked Abrego Garcia, a union sheet metal worker and a father of three, had lived for more than a decade in Maryland after entering the United States illegally. He was detained in March by immigration officials near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, about a half hour outside of Washington. He was last seen in April, when U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, was allowed to meet with him at a hotel in San Salvador. Guynn said Abrego Garcia remains in custody at the El Centro Penitentiary in Santa Ana. "He's in good health," Guynn said, adding, "he's gained weight." Abrego Garcia's family has sued the U.S. government demanding his return. 'I miss you so much': A Maryland dad was sent to El Salvador prison by mistake. Can his community get him back? Before the hearing, a crowd gathered outside the courthouse and chanted: "Bring him home!" Ama Frimpong, legal director for the immigrant rights nonprofit CASA, said the government's response has been "nothing but excuses." 'We are looking for the judge to recognize that, essentially, the government is trying to delay and honestly refuse to comply with the court's orders to bring Kilmer home," she said. U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., who attended the rally, added: 'Yes, it's about one man, but it's about the Constitution of the United States." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge scolds Trump admin in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
