The judge presiding over the case of a man who was mistakenly deported by the U.S. government
to a prison in El Salvador suggested Tuesday that she was weighing contempt proceedings against
the Trump administration.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered administration officials to turn over evidence of their efforts to help bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. since she first ordered his return, saying the government had not shown her anything of note.
“I’ve gotten nothing,” Xinis said. “I’ve gotten no real response, and no real legal justification for not answering,” she continued, adding that if the administration is not going to answer her questions “then justify why. That’s what we do in this house.”
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia had asked that the administration be found in contempt of court over its inaction. The judge said she wants to review the evidence the administration submits, which is expected to include sworn depositions, before ruling on the matter.
She ordered officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to sit for the depositions, and for the administration to hand over documents by the end of the month to see what steps its taken to comply with her order.
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Speaking for the administration, Drew Ensign of the Justice Department said the government had complied with the judge's directives. He also said that if Abrego Garcia were to show up at a port of entry, we "would facilitate his return" into the U.S. before taking him into custody.
Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15 and taken to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite an immigration judge's 2019 order barring him from being sent to his home country. Government lawyers have said he was taken there as the result of an "administrative error."
Kilmar Abrego Garcia.via Facebook
Xinis previously ordered the administration to try to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., where he could be given due process.
The Supreme Court partially affirmed her order last week, saying Abrego Garcia's removal was "illegal" and that Xinis' order "properly requires the Government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador."
During an Oval Office meeting Monday between
President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele, the Salvadoran president told a reporter that he
wouldn’t send Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., calling the question "preposterous."
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to provide evidence on any steps it's taken to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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