Latest news with #JudgeXinis
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
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judges Demand Answers from ‘Stonewalling' Trump Admin Over Wrongful Deportation
Judges in multiple jurisdictions are pressing the Trump administration for answers regarding the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. ordered government lawyers to provide more information about their attempts to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S, The Washington Post reported. Abrego Garcia's March deportation to El Salvador was an 'administrative error,' a Justice Department lawyer admitted in court months ago. Yet the Maryland dad is still in the Central American country, even after a Supreme Court ruling against the government. The Trump administration has one week to hand over all 'documents memorializing, documenting, or describing the arrangements between the United States and El Salvador,' Boasberg said in his order. It was Boasberg's order that the administration flouted earlier this year when it sent planes carrying Salvadorans and Venezuelans to El Salvador. Also on Friday, a federal judge in Maryland handling a lawsuit from Abrego Garcia's family doubted whether the Trump administration was really trying to get him back. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said that the government has only provided 'a bunch of ''I don't knows'" in response to her orders requiring daily updates and other things. 'I don't want to tell you how long it took my wonderful law clerks to count up the 'I don't knows,'' Xinis said, telling government lawyers that she may issue a written warning. The government contends that any pertinent information they have constitutes 'state secrets' and would endanger national security. That claim doesn't appear to be holding up, especially since government officials have said so much about the case publicly. Xinis agreed with the plaintiff's lawyers, who said in a recent filing that the 'Government's assertion of state secrets is consistent with an effort to avoid judicial scrutiny of its actions.' They had also described how, '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." Xinis seemed shocked by what one government lawyer had to say on Friday. 'Just so I understand the government's position—that the warrantless, baseless seizure of a person off the streets of our state, country is not government misconduct?' she said. 'Okay. All right.'
CBS News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Family pleads for answers on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's detention in El Salvador
Hundreds of people turned out at the US District Court House today to show support for bringing Kilmar Abrego Garcia home. Cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom, but plaintiffs representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia said once again, they are simply seeking answers to three questions: Where is Kilmar Abrego Garcia right now? What has been done to facilitate his return? What plans are in place to facilitate his return? But the government says they are limited in what they can say, citing concerns over threats to national security and diplomatic relations. Earlier this month, the trump administration invoked the state secrets privilege to explain the lack of explanation that has been released so far. WJZ caught up with Ama Frimpong with CASA after the hearing, where she offered her thoughts on what happened inside. "They have no proof. They're not explaining how and why those things should be considered privileged. So, the judge said basically, you're asking me to take your word for it, and that's not how this works," Frimpong said. Attorneys for the government said they have provided information to the plaintiffs to explain those answers, but they "want more". However, Judge Xinis said, according to the affidavit she has received, there is not enough information provided to meet the threshold of the state secrets privilege. She offered them an opportunity to supplement their affidavit and return at a later date, to which the plaintiffs remind the court, "a life is in the balance,"—adding Abrego Garcia is in danger each day he sits in an El Salvador prison. "Do not tell us that he's alive, well, healthy, out on weight…let him talk to his family. Let him talk to his lawyers. Release him from prison and bring him home. That's what we're looking for, that's what justice looks like, and that's what we will continue fighting for," Frimpong added. The court adjourned to the public at about 4:00 p.m. so the attorneys and judge could discuss some sealed information behind closed doors. However, the judge is expected to make a decision early next week.
Fox News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Judge on warpath presses Trump DOJ on Abrego Garcia deportation, answers leave courtroom in stunned silence
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis excoriated Trump administration lawyers Friday in a remarkable status hearing centered on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error. The heated back-and-forth was full of eye-popping exchanges between the judge and the Justice Department, as she took umbrage with their attempts to invoke the state secrets privilege to shield details concerning Abrego Garcia from the court. "What world are we living in," Xinis asked in disbelief after more than two hours of proceedings. "What sort of legal world are we living in?" She sparred multiple times with DOJ lawyers over their assertion that Abrego Garcia was lawfully detained and deported. "He was lawfully detained? No he wasn't!" Judge Xinis objected. "There was no order of removal, there was no warrant for removal – there was nothing." She cut off Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn again when he attempted to continue with a different argument. "You didn't even respond to what I just said," she told him. "A DHS attorney came in at the first hearing and confirmed that there was no lawful basis to arrest Abrego Garcia." "Why are we skipping over that – as part of the misconduct at issue, in light of the pattern I'm currently faced with on this day?" she asked, in disbelief. For at least 30 seconds, the courtroom fell completely silent. The judge said she would issue an order later Friday outlining next steps, after the two sides huddled for a closed portion of the case. Xinis, who, despite her mounting frustrations, seemed likely to grant the government another deadline extension, described the hours-long hearing as beating a "frustrated and dead horse." At one point, she rebuked the Justice Department for trying to invoke the state secrets privilege via a footnote referencing a filing in a separate case before a different court, noting that this would not pass muster in her courtroom. Most of the public hearing was marked by similar sharp exchanges over whether the Trump administration had taken any steps to comply with court orders to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return – a point Xinis reiterated was already settled by both her court and the Supreme Court last month. At another contentious moment, she laughed in apparent disbelief at the lack of evidence and disclosures from the government. "I can't count the number of 'I don't knows' my wonderful clerks and I have heard," she said of depositions from Trump administration officials. Xinis told the government lawyers they had not presented her with a sufficient affidavit to invoke the state secrets privilege – which the Trump administration has asserted is necessary in this case to protect sensitive diplomatic and foreign policy matters from being made public in court. Pointing to a prior admission from the Trump administration, Xinis also said Abrego Garcia was removed from the U.S. "without lawful authority." "You've conceded it. There's witness testimony," she said. Any attempt to revise this "would be exceptionally difficult." "Respectfully, your honor, he was removed lawfully," Guynn replied. "No," an incredulous Xinis shot back. "He was removed unlawfully." "His removal from the U.S. was lawful," the Justice Department attorney insisted. "Well no – no it wasn't," Xinis said, visibly stunned. "Because there's actually the [Immigration and Naturalization Act], which says that if the United States elects to remove someone to a third country, there's a process. Congress has set out that process, the executive has to follow that process.," she said. "So it is not determined yet whether removal to a third country would be appropriate, which is why the Supreme Court ruled the way it did." Ultimately, she said, the government will likely have extra time to file additional declarations to allow it to seek the state secrets privilege. Still, she said she "has to point out" that the unlawful removal of Abrego Garcia from the U.S. "is a foregone conclusion." "He was removed in error. He was sent to El Salvador when there was a notice of withholding of removal, and so that was not lawful." Plaintiffs noted that the government had labeled 1,140 documents related to Abrego Garcia's case as privileged – but in contrast, they were sent just 164 documents – 132 of which were photocopies of their own court filings and interrogatories sent back to them. "Your Honor, a life is in the balance," Abrego Garcia's lawyers said, urging the court to move faster. Xinis previously criticized the administration for failing to comply with her court's requests for information in the case – accusing officials in a blistering eight-page order of submitting "vague, evasive and incomplete" responses that she said demonstrated "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations."
