A federal judge challenged the government on Monday over whether it can be relied upon to honor court orders preventing the detention or deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis questioned the credibility of government assurances, pointing to Abrego Garcia’s earlier deportation, which she said occurred without legal authority. She told the court she was losing patience with what she described as repeated misrepresentations by government lawyers. “Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?” she asked.
Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March and imprisoned there, a move that quickly drew national attention and intensified debate over immigration enforcement. The Trump administration initially resisted efforts to return him to the United States, relenting only after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. He was brought back in June, but soon faced an arrest warrant in Tennessee tied to human smuggling allegations.
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After finding that the government lacked any workable plan to remove him from the country, Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released from immigration detention on Dec. 11. The following day, she issued a temporary restraining order blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement from taking him back into custody. Monday’s hearing focused on whether that order should remain in effect.
As the hearing unfolded, Xinis pressed government attorneys for clarity on what steps, if any, were being taken to advance removal proceedings. “I am trying to get to the bottom of whether there are going to be any removal proceedings,” she said. “You haven’t told me what you’re going to do next.”
For now, Xinis said, the restraining order will stay in place while she weighs the arguments before her.
“This is an extremely irregular and extraordinary situation,” Xinis told attorneys in court, according to AP’s report.
Outside the federal courthouse in Maryland, Abrego Garcia arrived to loud support from dozens of backers, greeted by chanting, drumming and a choir. Inside, the contrast was stark. Abrego Garcia sat alongside a large defense team, while a single government lawyer represented the administration.
Abrego Garcia had been held in immigration detention since August. During that period, the government floated plans to deport him to a series of countries, including Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and later Liberia. At the same time, officials made no attempt to send him to Costa Rica, the only country he has said he is willing to go. Xinis has accused the government of misleading the court by asserting that Costa Rica would not accept him.
In a written filing, Xinis criticized what she described as a pattern of bad faith. The government’s “persistent refusal to acknowledge Costa Rica as a viable removal option, their threats to send Abrego Garcia to African countries that never agreed to take him, and their misrepresentation to the Court that Liberia is now the only country available to Abrego Garcia, all reflect that whatever purpose was behind his detention, it was not for the ‘basic purpose’ of timely third-country removal,” she wrote.
During Monday’s proceedings, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers again emphasized that he is ready to leave for Costa Rica immediately. One of his attorneys, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said the judge appeared deeply frustrated by the government’s inability to explain its next steps and suggested the situation was being driven by punishment rather than process.
“You know who’s keeping Mr. Garcia in the United States right now? The federal government,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said after the hearing.
While Abrego Garcia would prefer to remain in Maryland with his family, Sandoval-Moshenberg said his client is prepared to voluntarily depart for Costa Rica if staying is not an option. Costa Rica offered him refugee status months ago.
Abrego Garcia has lived in Maryland for years and has an American wife and child. He entered the United States illegally from El Salvador as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge barred his deportation back to El Salvador, citing credible threats from a gang that had targeted his family. Despite his return to the U.S., Department of Homeland Security officials have maintained that he cannot remain and have said they intend to deport him to a third country.
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Apart from the Maryland proceedings, Abrego Garcia is also defending himself against the smuggling charges in Tennessee. His attorneys there recently sought sanctions after a Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino, made critical remarks about him on national television. That judge had previously ordered Justice Department and Homeland Security officials to stop public commentary that could undermine Abrego Garcia’s right to a fair trial.
