‘Extremely troubling’ that U.S. can’t provide details on mistakenly deported man, judge says

GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge on Friday lambasted a government lawyer who couldn’t explain what, if anything, the Trump administration has done to arrange for the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The U.S. government attorney also struggled to provide any information about the whereabouts of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, despite Thursday’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the Trump administration must bring him back.

“Where is he and under whose authority?” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis asked in a Maryland courtroom.

“I’m not asking for state secrets,” she said. “All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: Where is he?”

Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, said the government doesn’t have evidence to contradict the belief that Abrego Garcia is still in El Salvador.

Xinis sounded exasperated that Ensign couldn’t tell her where Abrego Garcia is, what the government has done to arrange for his return or what more it plans to do to get him back to the United States.

“That is extremely troubling,” she said.

The judge repeatedly asked Ensign about what has been done to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, asking pointedly: “Have they done anything?” — to which Ensign said he didn’t have personal knowledge of what had been done.

“So that means they’ve done nothing,” the judge said, adding later: “Despite this court’s clear directive, your clients have done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”

For his part, Ensign stressed that the government was “actively considering what could be done” in the case and said that Abrego-Garcia’s case was an issue that involved three different Cabinet agencies and a lot of interagency coordination.

Before the hearing ended, Xinis ordered the U.S. to provide daily updates on the status of its plans to bring Abrego Garcia back.

“I guess my message, for what it’s worth, is: If you can do it, do it tomorrow,” she said.

Attorneys for the Trump administration had told Xinis in a Friday morning filing that her Friday morning deadline for information was “impractical.” They said they haven’t had enough time to review the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Xinis had directed the Trump administration to “take all available steps to facilitate the return” of Abrego Garcia following Thursday’s high court order.

She requested a declaration from the administration that addressed Abrego Garcia’s location and custodial status and what steps the administration has taken and will take to facilitate his return.

The U.S. attorneys also wrote in Friday morning’s filing that it was “unreasonable” for the U.S. government “to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted.”

“Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review,” the attorneys wrote.

In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the administration’s emergency appeal of Xinis’ April 4 order for Abrego Garcia’s return.

The Salvadoran citizen had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

The Supreme Court has issued a string of rulings on its emergency docket, where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda. In Thursday’s case, the court said Xinis’ order must be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad.

“The order properly requires 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,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.

The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it. The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional roller coaster” for their family and the entire community.

“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.

Xinis’ April 4 order said the government’s decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appeared to be “wholly lawless.”

“There is little to no evidence to support a ‘vague, uncorroborated’ allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang,” the judge wrote.

The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month. He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.

Kunzelman, Santana and Finley write for the Associated Press. Finley reported from Norfolk, Va.