DOJ balks at court order in Abrego Garcia case, judge finds gov't "failed to comply"
DOJ said it was "unable" to provide information about Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Judge Paula Xinis. UPDATE: She has ordered daily status reports and a hearing on Tuesday.
The morning after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to vacate a judge’s order that the government “facilitate” the return of a man sent to a prison in El Salvador illegally, the Trump administration was refusing to accept the ramifications of the order.
After U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis gave the Justice Department a two-hour extension on Friday morning to respond to her Thursday night order that it provide information about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s status and the efforts to facilitate his return, DOJ responded — nearly an hour after the extended deadline — by stating that they are "unable to provide" any of the information Xinis ordered.
[Update, 2:00 p.m.: Anna Bower from Lawfare reported from Friday’s 1:00 p.m. hearing that the Justice Department provided no further information and that Xinis will be requiring daily status reports from the government about the Trump administration’s implementation of her order following the Supreme Court’s order.]
[UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: Judge Paula Xinis issued an order shortly after the hearing, finding that “the Defendants have failed to comply with this Court’s Order“ from Thursday night.
As to the basic questions about Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts and the Trump administration’s previous efforts under her order to facilitate his return, Xinis noted, “Defendants’ counsel responded that he could not answer these questions, and at times suggested that Defendants had withheld such information from him.”
As discussed at the hearing, Xinis accordingly has ordered that “beginning April 12, 2025, and continuing each day thereafter until further order of the Court, Defendants shall file daily, on or before 5:00 PM ET, a declaration made by an individual with personal knowledge as to any information regarding: (1) the current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia; (2) what steps, if any, Defendants have taken to facilitate his immediate return to the United States; (3) what additional steps Defendants will take, and when, to facilitate his return.”
The next hearing in the case is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are invited to request any additional relief in a filing due by 5 p.m. Saturday, and the government’s response is due by 5 p.m. Sunday.
In a footnote, Xinis also pushed back on a point DOJ has argued in both filings with the court Friday, as well as at the hearing:
That order is likely it for Friday in the case, despite the fact that the public — and Abrego Garcia’s lawyers and the court — have no additional information about Abrego Garcia than we had on Thurday afternoon.]
Original report continues here:
"Defendants are not in a position where they 'can' share any information requested by the Court,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote in the Friday filing. “That is the reality."
The lawyers who signed the brief — Yaakov Roth, Acting Assistant Attorney General Civil Division; Drew Ensign, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Office of Immigration Litigation; Ernesto Molina, Deputy Director Office of Immigration Litigation; and Tarra DeShields, Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland — apparently do not know what the word “reality“ means.
Of the three items Xinis sought to be included in a declaration submitted Friday morning — where Abrego Garcia is and what steps have been and will be taken — the first two are facts about the status of Abrego Garcia and what has happened. They are reality.
In the Justice Department’s response, it also noted, “Defendants received the order late in the evening last night. They are reviewing the order and actively evaluating next steps.”
This is reasonable as a standalone sentiment, to be sure, but it is not an answer as to the first two items Xinis listed for inclusion in the declaration.
In a Friday morning motion, DOJ asked for a delay in responding to Xinis’s Thursday night order until Tuesday and asked for a hearing she set for 1 p.m. Friday to be moved to Wednesday.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers “vigorously” opposed the request, noting that the Trump administration “did not take that time to ponder whether to remove Garcia—which it effectuated within 72 hours of his unlawful seizure—and it does not need that time to comply with this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s rulings.”
Xinis granted DOJ a two-hour extension, but kept the hearing set for 1 p.m. Friday.
The hearing, thus, is set to begin in Greenbelt, Maryland at 1 p.m. There is no remote or public access being provided at this time.
This is a breaking news story. Law Dork will have more as circumstances warrant.
One week ago, "we" were told by The Legal Commentariat that, no, we were not at that time in a constitutional crisis. When the Trump Administration defied a court order and the time for that order had passed, THEN America would be in a constitutional crisis.
So... now?! Sounds like.
Trump and his cronies really don't want Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be returned to the United States (if, in fact, he is even still alive) because his return and the publicity surrounding it will reveal the abject cruelty of Trump's actions and the jaw-dropping casualness of his disregard for the rule of law and for the basic rights of human beings.