During a hearing on April 15, the judge said the record didn’t demonstrate the administration complied with her order.
GREENBELT, Md.—U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said on April 15 that she would order discovery to determine whether the Trump administration acted to comply with her order requiring it to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month.
Her comments came during an April 15 hearing in Maryland, where protesters could be seen outside the courthouse in Greenbelt.
Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Drew Ensign told Xinis that discovery, which will likely entail depositions from administration officials, was unnecessary and that the court should focus on the question of what the government was legally required to do in order to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from detention.
Ensign told Xinis that facilitation in the immigration context meant removing domestic barriers to Abrego Garcia’s return.
Xinis refrained from directing any particular action by the federal government and wanted to proceed with discovery to determine whether the government had complied with her order directing some kind of facilitation.
She also indicated she was considering contempt for the administration and that she wanted more information on whether it was acting in bad faith in response to her order.
The hearing came after an Oval Office meeting in which Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he wouldn’t return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
The White House said Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and an MS-13 gang member, was deported due to an administrative error.
On April 14, the Trump administration filed a declaration from the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security Joseph Mazarra, which told the court that “DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”
Mazzara, who was present at the courthouse, also said that because MS-13 is considered a foreign terrorist organization, he is no longer eligible for withholding from removal.
An immigration judge had granted that withholding in 2019.
By Sam Dorman
