A federal judge further tore into the Justice Department at a Friday hearing for refusing to comply with her order for more information about a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign repeatedly indicated he had no update as to the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia or any efforts to return him, saying the administration was still assessing the Supreme Court’s Thursday evening ruling in his case.
“Have they done anything?” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, appearing visibly frustrated, pressed the government.
“Your Honor, I don’t have personal knowledge,” Ensign responded.
“Ok, so they’ve done nothing,” Xinis replied.
Xinis ordered the administration to provide daily written updates “to the public and me that you can’t comply” until officials turn over the information, asserting there is no reason for the delay.
“Just so we’re clear, there is no business hours in this court. All hours are spent on all cases in this court. There’s no 9-5,” said Xinis, an appointee of former President Obama.
Abrego Garcia’s March 15 deportation has become a flashpoint in the second Trump administration’s sweeping immigration efforts.
The administration has accused Abrego Garcia of being a part of MS-13 and brought him to a notorious Salvadoran prison alongside hundreds of others the administration says are gang members, but Abrego Garcia’s family contests that he has any gang ties.
In 2019, an immigration judge had issued a ruling protecting the man from being deported to El Salvador over fears of violence. The administration now acknowledges he was mistakenly deported because of an “administrative error” but says they cannot effectuate his return now that he is no longer in U.S. custody.
The administration appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which on Thursday night ruled that officials must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, returning the case to Xinis’s court.
Xinis quickly scheduled Friday’s hearing, which the Trump administration unsuccessfully attempted to call off by calling her timeline “impracticable.”
“Is anybody moving with any sort of speed on this to get to the bottom of this, so I can get an answer,” Xinis said at the hearing.
“I don’t mean to be flippant. I’m not sure what to take from the fact that the Supreme Court has spoken quite clearly, and yet I can’t get an answer today about anything you’ve done in the past,” the judge continued, thumping her fist on her wooden desk for emphasis.
The Justice Department argued the judge must give them until next week, stressing how the Supreme Court ruling says the executive branch must be afforded proper deference in its conduct of foreign affairs. Ensign also signaled the administration is mulling whether to assert a privilege to avoid handing over the information.
“This is a case that involves three different Cabinet departments and there is a lot of different inter-agency process that attend to these things,” Ensign said.
The judge said she didn’t mean to direct all her frustration at the Justice Department attorney but appeared exasperated Friday at the administration’s refusal to comply.
“We’re not going to slow-walk this,” Xinis said. “You will have a fair opportunity to be heard, but we are not relitigating what the Supreme Court has put to bed.”
