A federal judge temporarily halted her order requiring the Trump administration to provide information on its efforts so far, if any, to retrieve a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
The seven-day pause ordered by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Wednesday came with the agreement of lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Xinis said, and is the first sign of a possible change, either in tone or position, in the contentious legal fight that already has been to the Supreme Court and led the judge to accuse administration lawyers of acting in 鈥渂ad faith.鈥�
Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, filed a sealed motion requesting the stay of the judge鈥檚 directive for the U.S. to provide testimony and documents that involve plans to retrieve Abrego Garcia. The administration is also seeking relief from having to file daily updates on its progress.
Xinis did not explain her legal reasoning in granting the stay until April 30. She also did not make any changes to the required daily status updates.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia filed their own sealed document, styled as a response in opposition, but Xinis wrote that her order was made 鈥渨ith the agreement of the parties.鈥�
The administration expelled Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month, and officials later described the mistake as 鈥渁n administrative error鈥� 鈥� but insisted that Abrego Garcia was in fact a member of the MS-13 gang.
The Wednesday evening order came just one day after Xinis castigated the administration’s lawyers in a written filing Tuesday for ignoring her orders, obstructing the legal process and acting in 鈥渂ad faith鈥� by refusing to provide information.
The U.S. has claimed that much of the information is protected because it involves state secrets, government deliberations and attorney client privilege. But Xinis has rejected the argument and demanded that the Trump administration provide specific justifications for each claim of privileged information by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Here’s what the judge wants 鈥� and what the administration wants
Tom Homan, the Trump administration鈥檚 border czar, did not directly address the judge鈥檚 comments from Tuesday when asked by reporters at the White House on Wednesday. But he reiterated the administration’s position that Abrego Garcia will be detained and deported again if he were to be returned to the U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration nearly two weeks ago to facilitate Abrego Garcia鈥檚 return to the U.S., rejecting the White House鈥檚 claim that it couldn鈥檛 retrieve him after mistakenly deporting him.
Trump administration officials have pushed back, arguing that it is up to El Salvador 鈥� though the president of El Salvador has also said he lacks the power to return Abrego Garcia. The administration has also argued that information about any steps it has taken or could take to return Abrego Garcia is protected by attorney-client privilege laws, state secret laws, general 鈥済overnment privilege鈥� or other secrecy rules.
But Xinis said those claims, without any facts to back them up, reflected a 鈥渨illful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.鈥�
鈥淔or 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鈥檚 orders,鈥� Xinis wrote in the order Tuesday. 鈥淒efendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now.鈥�
Abrego Garcia was expelled after living in the US for about 14 years
Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the United States for roughly 14 years, during which he worked in construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.
A U.S. immigration judge had shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. He also was given a federal permit to work in the United States, where he was a metal worker and union member, according to Abrego Garcia鈥檚 lawyers.
But the Trump administration expelled Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month anyway.
Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations. His attorneys have pointed out that the criminal informant claimed he was a member of MS-13 in Long Island, New York, where he has never lived.
It鈥檚 not the first time the Trump administration has faced a scathing order from a federal judge over its approach to deportation cases.
A three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scolded the administration last week, saying its claim that it can鈥檛 do anything to free Abrego Garcia 鈥渟hould be shocking.鈥� That ruling came one day after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. That was a different legal case.
Democrats and legal scholars say Trump is provoking a constitutional crisis in part by ignoring court rulings; the White House has said it鈥檚 the judges who are the problem.
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
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