Deadline passes for Trump admin to provide info on deported Maryland man

• The Trump administration missed a deadline to comply with a federal judge’s order, affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, to present its plan to bring a wrongly deported Maryland man back to the United States. The administration argued the deadline on Friday morning, was “impractical” and that they needed until Tuesday evening to comply.
• The federal judge also ordered the federal government to reveal the whereabouts of the deported man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which it did not disclose by the deadline either.
• Abrego Garcia’s lawyer responded to the deadline passing by criticizing the administration’s lack of compliance with the federal judge’s order.

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The Trump administration failed to comply with a judge’s deadline issued for the morning of Friday, April 11, for officials to present a plan to return a Maryland man wrongfully deported from the United States to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

Why did the Trump administration miss the deadline?

The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawyers argued the time was “impractical” after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed much of a federal judge’s previous order for the man’s return.

DOJ attorneys wanted until the evening of Tuesday, April 14, to provide the information requested, but the judge only gave them a couple of additional hours to comply with her order on Friday. The DOJ then said that it was unable to share information in such a short amount of time.

What did the federal judge order?

The Supreme Court ruled U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis order to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is proper, but asked her to clarify her earlier order as to what extent she wanted the Trump administration to “effectuate and facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. Xinis’ order requests that the federal government take all steps available to bring Abrego Garcia home as soon as possible.

She also ruled that the Trump administration must disclose the Maryland man’s location and status, as well as the steps taken to this point to bring him back to the United States. She also requested information on what would be necessary to bring him back to the U.S.

Response to the ruling

Xinis wrote in her order on Friday morning that the nation’s highest court affirmed Abrego Garcia’s deportation was illegal, and that the DOJ’s “suggestion that they need time to meaningfully review a four-page Order that reaffirms this basic principle blinks at reality.”

The DOJ, in response, raised concerns over whether Xinis complied with the Supreme Court’s directive for her to clarify her original order.

What has Abrego Garcia’s legal team said?

Lawyers for Abrego Garcia criticized the administration’s calls for more time, arguing that time wasn’t needed to consider whether to remove him, and that more time was not needed to comply with the order. They also said he is at risk of injury or death in the prison, which holds many gang members.

“Last night, the court ordered the government take all reasonable steps, to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, on Friday.

“So, I didn’t need to come into court today and ask the judge to order again what she already ordered last night.” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “Now the question is, how are we going to know if the government is actually doing that?”

What is the backstory to the case?

The Trump administration admitted that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported due to an error, but previously argued that it could not return him because he is now in the custody of a foreign government.