Maryland judge accuses Trump administration of "willful and bad faith refusal" to answer Kilmar Abrego Garcia questions
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers wrote in new court filings Monday that the Trump administration is "incomplete and deficient" in providing basic answers to their questions about his deportation case, potentially violating a court order by Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis — who on Tuesday responded with sharp criticism of the government.
Judge Xinis had given Abrego Garcia's attorneys wide latitude to depose government officials and obtain documents about why the Baltimore father was deported and the steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return to the United States.
The Justice Department had since been dodging questions from Xinis about what, if anything, the Trump administration is doing to return Abrego Garcia. On Tuesday evening, the judge ordered the department to provide full responses by Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Judge blasts government in new order
Judge Xinis largely rejected the Trump administration's claims that they had adequately answered questions from Abrego Garcia's legal team.
The judge took issue with the Department of Justice's position that they can do nothing because Abrego Garcia is in the custody of El Salvador.
Judge Xinis wrote, "Defendants—and their counsel—well know that the falsehood lies not in any supposed 'premise,' but in their continued mischaracterization of the Supreme Court's Order. That Order made clear that this Court properly required 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.' Defendants' objection reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations."
The judge also had strong words for the government's argument that they cannot divulge certain information because it is privileged.
"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," she wrote. "Defendants 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."
She asked Abrego Garcia's attorneys to limit the scope of some of their questions.
Xinis wrote, "The request for 'the identity and role of every U.S. official or employee with knowledge of the facts alleged in the Complaint,' as well as those involved in any submission to this Court, the Fourth Circuit or the Supreme Court, is too broad to extract a meaningful and timely response."
"Nothing of substance"
While Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador, his lawyers are waging a legal battle to get information about his case from the government, and said in filings WJZ obtained Tuesday, the Trump Administration is "producing nothing of substance."
Abrego Garcia's attorneys said the government has invoked state secret privilege 13 times and has been unresponsive to other questions, including the legal basis for deporting Abrego Garcia and any talks with the Salvadoran government.
"The government can't simply do nothing. They can't simply say if Mr. Abrego Garcia turns up at our border we'll let him in," said Alexandra Ribe, one of Abrego Garcia's lawyers. "They have to actively assist in his return to the United States, and that's what the Supreme Court has ordered them to do."
In Tuesday's court filing, Abrego Garcia's attorneys wrote that the government's document production consists entirely of public filings, copies of the lawyers' own discovery requests and correspondence, "and two non-substantive cover emails transmitting declarations filed in this case."
"Its interrogatory responses are similarly non-responsive," they wrote.
Trump administration defends its actions
The Trump Administration fired back and called some of the questions an "inappropriate intrusion" and insisted they are making a "good-faith effort" at answering them.
"The insistence on examining 'legal basis for Abrego's confinement' is an absurdity. Upon Abrego's repatriation to El Salvador, his detention was no longer a matter of the United States' confinement, but a matter belonging to the government of El Salvador, which has been explained to the plaintiffs repeatedly," the government said in response.
At the White House Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, "We were always right. The president was always on the right side of this issue to deport this illegal criminal from our community, and it is despicable to see the media continue to refer to this individual as someone who is just a peaceful man living his life in Maryland.
"This was, and always has been an illegal criminal, an MS-13 gang member, and a designated foreign terrorist, and the administration maintains our position to deport these individuals from our communities."
Abrego Garcia's attorneys have strongly denied claims he has any gang affiliation.
A Baltimore immigration judge also looked into allegations he was an MS-13 gang member back in 2019, following an arrest at a Hyattsville Home Depot in 2019, but could not substantiate them. That judge found that Abrego Garcia should not be deported back to El Salvador because he faced gang violence in his native country.
Returning from El Salvador
Four House Democrats just returned from El Salvador after unsuccessfully trying to meet with Abrego Garcia and get answers themselves.
"There is no reason to believe, after our briefing with the ambassador in at the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, that the U.S. government has taken any action to facilitate his return home as per the Supreme Court request," said Representative Maxine Dexter, an Oregon Democrat.
"We are in a constitutional crisis right now, and as representatives, we all have constituents that have been reaching out to us by the hundreds, saying, 'Do something about this, make sure people don't forget about this,'" said Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida.
Maryland Freedom Caucus responds
On Tuesday, a group of conservative Republican lawmakers, the Maryland Freedom Caucus, issued a statement condemning calls to return Abrego Garcia to Maryland and said he entered the country illegally and should not be welcomed back.
"Mr. Garcia may have lived here, but he had no legal standing to be in the United States," the lawmakers said. "His country, El Salvador, has indicated they are unwilling to release him. Despite what some may want, we cannot tell another sovereign nation what they must do."
