


The federal judge overseeing the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case excoriated the Trump administration for its handling of court orders to hand over information on how it plans to return the deported Salvadoran national.
The judge’s filing is the latest in the legal saga surrounding Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and alleged member of MS-13, who was deported to El Salvador last month despite a “withholding order” prohibiting him from being deported to that specific country over fears he would be persecuted by a gang there. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. and continue with his deportation case “as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
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Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland has been skeptical that the government has obeyed these orders after the administration refused to provide information on what steps it has taken to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
Xinis said in a Tuesday court filing that the Trump administration was showing a “willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.”
“For weeks, Defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders. Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege,” Xinis wrote.
“Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now. If Defendants want to preserve their privilege claims, they must support them with the required detail,” she added.
Xinis gave the Justice Department until 6 p.m. Wednesday to provide details on why it feels the need to assert privilege.
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The ruling comes after a group of House Democrats visited El Salvador to petition for Abrego Garcia’s release from custody. The visit followed Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) trip, where he met with Abrego Garcia.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has repeatedly said he will not release Abrego Garcia.