Abrego Garcia is back but contempt and sanctions for Trump admin still on the table
With Kilmar Abrego Garcia back in the U.S. after his illegal removal to a notorious Salvadoran prison, followed by months of Trump administration delay and defiance, the administration wants to focus on the new criminal charges it had waiting for him upon his return. But understanding what brought us to this point is crucial not only for how to think about the criminal case, but also because his civil case against the government isn't over just because he's back.
Abrego Garcia's lawyers reminded us of that Sunday in their latest court filing to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, the Maryland judge who ordered the government to facilitate his return back in April. The filing came in response to the Trump Justice Department's request Friday to halt pending civil litigation over fact-finding into the government's facilitation efforts, just after Xinis had approved Abrego Garcia's lawyers' bid to file a sanctions motion against the government, due Wednesday.
Responding to the claim that the civil case is now moot due to his return, Abrego Garcia's lawyers reminded the Obama appointee that she 'still retains jurisdiction to find contempt and impose sanctions.'
They called the government's claim that it has complied with her order 'pure farce,' writing:
The Government flouted rather than followed the orders of this Court and the United States Supreme Court. Instead of facilitating Abrego Garcia's return, for the past two months Defendants have engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia. In its latest act of contempt, the Government arranged for Abrego Garcia's return, not to Maryland in compliance with the Supreme Court's directive to 'ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,' . . . but rather to Tennessee so that he could be charged with a crime in a case that the Government only developed while it was under threat of sanctions.
Farcical is a good summary of this case and the administration's broader immigration stance. The description pairs well with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's recent nod to Franz Kafka's 'The Trial,' in comparing the novel's absurd legal ordeal to the administration's summary removals of scores of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador's mega-prison known for human rights abuses. (Litigation is pending separately in that case in Washington, D.C., as lawyers try to secure the immigrants' return. That case also includes an attempt to hold the administration accountable for contempt, which is pending separately on the government's appeal in D.C.'s federal appeals court.)
Urging Xinis to keep the civil case alive, Abrego Garcia's lawyers said the government's 'wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution' and that if there's 'any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.'
Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia's criminal case is getting started in Tennessee, where he's charged with illegally transporting undocumented immigrants. It's an understatement to say the new case will be highly scrutinized, given how it came about in an apparent attempt by the administration to save face. That doesn't mean federal prosecutors won't be able to secure a conviction; they may be even more motivated to do so, given the political stakes.
On that note, ABC News reported, citing unnamed sources, that the decision to pursue the criminal case led high-ranking Tennessee prosecutor Ben Schrader to resign due to 'concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.' Asked about the reason for his resignation, Schrader declined to comment to NBC News. If his resignation is connected to the criminal case against Abrego Garcia, then the administration's political posturing through the Justice Department has led to the loss of yet another career prosecutor — one of this administration's sordid legacies, as exemplified by the Eric Adams dismissal debacle earlier this year.
Abrego Garcia is reportedly set to go before a judge Friday for arraignment, where he'll presumably plead not guilty and the government will press its case for detaining him pending trial. We don't know how this criminal case will end, but it will proceed in a U.S. court under the due process protections the administration has resisted providing in this case and others.
Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration's legal cases.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
How Trump has targeted Harvard's international students — and what the latest court ruling means
President Donald Trump and his administration have tried several tactics to block Harvard University's enrollment of international students, part of the White House's effort to secure policy changes at the private, Ivy League college. Targeting foreign students has become the administration's cornerstone effort to crack down on the nation's oldest and wealthiest college. The block on international enrollment, which accounts for a quarter of Harvard's students and much of its global allure , strikes at the core of Harvard's identity. Courts have stopped some of the government's actions, at least for now — but not all.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What is the Prenatal Equal Protection Act? New bill would effectively ban abortion in Ohio
(WJW) — On Wednesday, Republican State Reps. Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman are set to introduce a controversial new bill at the Ohio Statehouse that would ban abortion in the Buckeye State. The legislation is called the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, and it aims to extend full legal rights to fetuses from the moment of fertilization. Bagworm outbreak threat growing in Ohio, OSU warns 'We are trying to create a constitutional debate in which we believe the state's constitution would be superseded by the U.S. Constitution,' said pro-life activist Austin Beigel, who helped craft the bill. Beigel, a member of End Abortion Ohio, said the legislation is about ensuring what he sees as equal protection for all life — born or unborn. 'To simply say this is a person in the womb, out of the womb — we know they are human. We believe all people deserve legal protection under the law,' he said. Supporters of the bill argue it is not about politics, but about morality. 'It is not going to permit the killing of innocent human beings, innocent people,' Beigel added. But opponents said the bill defies the will of Ohio voters, who passed a constitutional amendment in 2023 explicitly protecting access to abortion. 'I mean, we knew on Nov. 7, 2023, that there would be plans to undermine the will of the Ohio voter,' said Jordyn Close, deputy director of the Ohio Women's Alliance. Close said she first learned of the proposed legislation last week and was troubled by what she found. 'This bill does not account for any special circumstances. It does not account for any real-life realities for Ohioans who need abortion care,' she said. Baby delivered from brain-dead woman on life support in Georgia The bill argues that Ohio's constitutional amendment legalizing abortion should be considered invalid, claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution's equal-protection clause. But Close believes that argument won't hold up in court. 'Our fantastic legal team and legal scholars will be able to defeat this,' she said. Supporters of the legislation are expected to hold a rally inside the Statehouse from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday as the bill is officially filed. Whether the bill gains traction in the legislature remains to be seen, but the fight over abortion rights in Ohio appears far from over. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The presidential feud that even death couldn't end
The personal has become very political in Zambia. Mourning and the build-up to a funeral is never an easy time, but throw in the fallout from a long-standing feud between the country's two top politicians – President Hakainde Hichilema and his now-late predecessor Edgar Lungu - and you have an explosive mix. The animosity was such that Lungu's family said one of his dying wishes was that Hichilema should not go anywhere near his body. The row has scuppered government plans to honour the former head of state, created a distressing rift in the country and left people wondering how things got this bad. Sunday was supposed to see the state funeral for the 68-year-old who governed for six years from 2015. But there will be no visiting dignitaries and the venue – a huge conference centre in the heart of the capital, Lusaka – will lie empty. There was already a hint of possible trouble ahead immediately after Lungu's death on 5 June, in the video message shared by his daughter on Facebook. Dressed in a thick, black jacket and holding back tears, Tasila Lungu said that her father had died in a hospital in South Africa where he was being treated with "dignity and privacy". She rounded off the one-minute announcement saying that "in this moment of grief, we invoke the spirit of 'One Zambia, One Nation' – the timeless creed that guided President Lungu's service to our country". To highlight the need for unity at a time when tradition suggested that the nation should naturally come together was a clue that all was not well. And there was another issue: where was the president's announcement? Ms Lungu's statement confirmed social media rumours of her father's death, condolence messages were already being sent, including from Kenya's president, but there was no word from Hichilema. While independent outlets were reporting the news, the national broadcaster, ZNBC, remained silent. Then, three hours after the daughter's post, Zambia's head of state shared his thoughts in a text post on Facebook. He made his own appeal for unity, asking people to "uphold the values of peace, dignity and togetherness that define us as Zambians". Information Minister Cornelius Mweetwa dismissed concerns about the delay in Hichilema talking about the death. He told the the BBC that based on precedent it was not the head of state's role to be the first to announce the passing of a predecessor. Nevertheless, Lungu's supporters felt that Hichilema's message of "togetherness" rang hollow. Hichilema finally became president at his sixth attempt after soundly beating Lungu at the polls in 2021. It was their third electoral match-up but the enmity went beyond ballot-box rivalry. The key to understanding this was the more than 100 days that Hichilema, opposition leader at the time, spent in detention in 2017, awaiting trial on treason charges. He was accused of endangering the life of then-President Lungu after his motorcade allegedly refused to give way to the one transporting the head of state. The charges were only dropped after the intervention of the secretary general of the Commonwealth. Later that year, Hichilema told the BBC that he had been held in solitary confinement for the first eight days in degrading and inhumane conditions "without electricity, without water, without a toilet". He blamed Lungu personally for his imprisonment. This was only one of 17 occasions that Hichilema was arrested. Supporters of his United Party for National Development were also harassed by supporters of the governing Patriotic Front (PF). The 2021 election could have drawn a line under things. Lungu, who had been rejected by a margin of almost a million votes by an electorate fed up with corruption allegations and concerns about apparent anti-democratic behaviour, went into political retirement. But as disillusionment with the Hichilema presidency grew because of continued economic hardships, Lungu sensed an opportunity and announced in October 2023 that he was returning to frontline politics. Soon after that announcement, Lungu was stripped of his retirement benefits and privileges by the state as he had returned to active politics. This decision rankled with the former president and his family. Lungu also complained of police harassment. At one point last year he said he was "virtually under house arrest". In 2023, the police warned him against jogging in public, describing his weekly workouts as "political activism". "I cannot move out of my house without being accosted and challenged by the police and driving me back home," Lungu told the BBC in May 2024. In that interview, he also alleged that he had been barred from attending a conference overseas and from travelling abroad for medical treatment. The information minister vehemently denied that there was ever a travel ban and described the idea that his movement was restricted in Zambia as a "fiction and a figment of the imagination of politically charged mindsets". Mweetwa added that despite Hichilema's treatment when he was in opposition, he was determined not to do the same to Lungu. There are also accusations that the president's anti-corruption crusade targeted those close to the former governing PF, including Lungu's family. His widow, who continues to be investigated, has been taken to court and lost properties. Some of his children, including Tasila, have also faced similar treatment - they all deny wrongdoing. Then at the end of last year the Constitutional Court barred him from running for president again, ruling that he had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law. The former head of state was angry about the way he felt he had been treated. "There was no love between the two men and [Lungu] was of the view that: 'I don't want people to pretend in my death that they cared about me when in fact, not'," the family's lawyer Makebi Zulu said. Lungu eventually managed to get to South Africa in January, but Mr Zulu said that he was told by his doctors, after a series of tests, that had he gone for a check-up earlier, the treatment would have had a greater chance of success. It was not disclosed what he was suffering from. It was, in part, in light of this that Lungu said he "wouldn't want the current president to attend his funeral". The government has rejected the idea that Lungu was stopped from going to see his doctors in South Africa. Following his death, the family wanted to be in charge of the funeral arrangements, but the Zambian authorities sought to take control. Despite the ill-feeling, last weekend it looked like a compromise had been reached and plans were made for a state funeral. But relations once again broke down as the family said the government had reneged on the agreement after releasing a programme showing more involvement by Hichilema than had been planned. In a message on Thursday, the president thanked Zambians for their "resilience, patience, solidarity and calmness during this time" but after doing "everything possible to engage the family... we have reached a point where a clear decision has to be made". With that, the funeral arrangements in Zambia were put on hold and the national period of mourning was abruptly cut short. The burial is now set to take place in South Africa and it seems unlikely that Hichilema will attend. Zambians had been hoping for both Hichilema and Lungu to bury their differences, but this death and the events that followed, have denied people the closure and reconciliation they desperately wanted to see between the two. Those differences have also denied many millions of Zambians the opportunity to mourn and pay their last respects to a man who once ruled them. 'My son is a drug addict, please help' - the actor breaking a Zambian taboo An ancient writing system confounding myths about Africa Zambia president orders ministers to stop sleeping in cabinet Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
