Judge on warpath presses Trump DOJ on Abrego Garcia deportation, answers leave courtroom in stunned silence
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis excoriated Trump administration lawyers Friday in a remarkable status hearing centered on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error.
The heated back-and-forth was full of eye-popping exchanges between the judge and the Justice Department, as she took umbrage with their attempts to invoke the state secrets privilege to shield details concerning Abrego Garcia from the court.
"What world are we living in," Xinis asked in disbelief after more than two hours of proceedings. "What sort of legal world are we living in?"
She sparred multiple times with DOJ lawyers over their assertion that Abrego Garcia was lawfully detained and deported.
"He was lawfully detained? No he wasn't!" Judge Xinis objected. "There was no order of removal, there was no warrant for removal – there was nothing."
She cut off Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn again when he attempted to continue with a different argument. "You didn't even respond to what I just said," she told him. "A DHS attorney came in at the first hearing and confirmed that there was no lawful basis to arrest Abrego Garcia."
"Why are we skipping over that – as part of the misconduct at issue, in light of the pattern I'm currently faced with on this day?" she asked, in disbelief.
For at least 30 seconds, the courtroom fell completely silent.
The judge said she would issue an order later Friday outlining next steps, after the two sides huddled for a closed portion of the case.
Xinis, who, despite her mounting frustrations, seemed likely to grant the government another deadline extension, described the hours-long hearing as beating a "frustrated and dead horse."
At one point, she rebuked the Justice Department for trying to invoke the state secrets privilege via a footnote referencing a filing in a separate case before a different court, noting that this would not pass muster in her courtroom.
Most of the public hearing was marked by similar sharp exchanges over whether the Trump administration had taken any steps to comply with court orders to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return – a point Xinis reiterated was already settled by both her court and the Supreme Court last month.
At another contentious moment, she laughed in apparent disbelief at the lack of evidence and disclosures from the government. "I can't count the number of 'I don't knows' my wonderful clerks and I have heard," she said of depositions from Trump administration officials.
Xinis told the government lawyers they had not presented her with a sufficient affidavit to invoke the state secrets privilege – which the Trump administration has asserted is necessary in this case to protect sensitive diplomatic and foreign policy matters from being made public in court.
Pointing to a prior admission from the Trump administration, Xinis also said Abrego Garcia was removed from the U.S. "without lawful authority."
"You've conceded it. There's witness testimony," she said. Any attempt to revise this "would be exceptionally difficult."
"Respectfully, your honor, he was removed lawfully," Guynn replied.
"No," an incredulous Xinis shot back. "He was removed unlawfully."
"His removal from the U.S. was lawful," the Justice Department attorney insisted.
"Well no – no it wasn't," Xinis said, visibly stunned.
"Because there's actually the [Immigration and Naturalization Act], which says that if the United States elects to remove someone to a third country, there's a process. Congress has set out that process, the executive has to follow that process.," she said. "So it is not determined yet whether removal to a third country would be appropriate, which is why the Supreme Court ruled the way it did."
Ultimately, she said, the government will likely have extra time to file additional declarations to allow it to seek the state secrets privilege.
Still, she said she "has to point out" that the unlawful removal of Abrego Garcia from the U.S. "is a foregone conclusion."
"He was removed in error. He was sent to El Salvador when there was a notice of withholding of removal, and so that was not lawful."
Plaintiffs noted that the government had labeled 1,140 documents related to Abrego Garcia's case as privileged – but in contrast, they were sent just 164 documents – 132 of which were photocopies of their own court filings and interrogatories sent back to them.
"Your Honor, a life is in the balance," Abrego Garcia's lawyers said, urging the court to move faster.
Xinis previously criticized the administration for failing to comply with her court's requests for information in the case – accusing officials in a blistering eight-page order of submitting "vague, evasive and incomplete" responses that she said demonstrated "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
7 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Texas governor vetoes bill that would ban all THC products
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill Sunday to ban all THC consumables, allowing the booming market flush with THC-infused vapes, gummies and other products to continue to be sold across the state. Abbott, a Republican, waited until the final moment to veto the bill in what would have been one of the most restrictive THC bans in the country and a significant blow to the state's billion-dollar industry. The law would have made it a misdemeanor to own, manufacture or sell consumable THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, products and was the latest push by states to regulate THC after a 2018 federal law allowed states to regulate hemp, a similar plant to marijuana that can be synthetically processed to produce THC, the compound giving marijuana its psychoactive properties. Loopholes in existing law have allowed many THC-infused goods to enter the market across the country, including states with strict marijuana laws. Texas has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country, prohibiting all recreational use and providing a limited medical marijuana program. The consumables market has allowed residents to legally access goods giving a similar high to marijuana. Republican lawmakers have criticized the products as dangerous due to a lack of federal oversight in how the goods are manufactured. Texas' ban is one of the more far-reaching among states that have taken similar steps. Several states, including California, have imposed age limits and restrictions on the potency of THC products. Critics of the Texas bill say it allows people who cannot access marijuana through the state's medical marijuana program to acquire goods that can provide a similar relief. Many retailers across the state also pointed to the thousands of jobs and millions in revenue the industry brings each year. Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have put age restrictions on THC consumables, claiming it would hurt small businesses. ___ Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
ICE detains Marine Corps veteran's wife who was still breastfeeding their baby
BATON ROUGE, La. — Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn't know how to tell his children where their mother went after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained her last month. When his nearly 2-year-old son Noah asks for his mother before bed, Clouatre just tells him, 'Mama will be back soon.' When his 3-month-old, breastfeeding daughter Lyn is hungry, he gives her a bottle of baby formula instead. He's worried how his newborn will bond with her mother absent skin-to-skin contact.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Business leaders from Bill Ackman to Jason Calacanis react to the US strike on Iran's nuclear sites
Donald Trump on Saturday announced the US had launched strikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites. The attack takes US involvement in the conflict between Iran and Israel to a new level. Here's how business leaders from Bill Ackman to Jason Calacanis reacted to the news. President Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed that US warplanes had executed "massive precision" airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, in what he described in a press conference as a "spectacular military success." The military operation marks a significant escalation in the tensions between Iran and Israel and represents a new level of US involvement in the international conflict. Business leaders from Bill Ackman to Jason Calacanis reacted to the news. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ackman, a longtime ally of the president's, was among the first to publicly react to the news with a post on X. "Thank you to our great military for its superb execution on ridding Iran of its nuclear threat," Ackman wrote shortly after the news broke. "All Americans are eternally grateful for you." He continued later, writing in a separate post: "To state the obvious, @realDonaldTrump's actions tonight are a lot better than relying on the IRGC's 'commitment' to not develop nuclear weapons." "In eight days, the United States and Israel eliminated Iran's nuclear capabilities with minimal civilian casualties," he added in another post. "One of the greatest military achievements ever." Serial entrepreneur Calacanis posted on X, "Five months into Trump's term, we're at war." In a subsequent post, he elaborated, saying that his initial statement was "just an observation, published without judgement." "We don't have the intelligence that our leaders have, so I will reserve judgement until we know more," Calacanis wrote. "It should be obvious to everyone, however, that no president can just stop conflicts on day one. We now have three conflicts were involved in." The founder of the hedge fund Tolou Capital Management responded to the strikes in a series of posts on social media, describing the US military operation as "completely undetectable," given that no flight trackers showed US military aircraft over Iran within 30 minutes of the strikes. "Say what you want," Hakimian wrote. "The United States military is A1 and there's not a close competitor at the moment." In a separate post, Hakimian added: "The most escalatory thing that Iran can do is not to bomb U.S. military bases in the Middle East. It's to close the Strait of Hormuz. And if that happens, Oil goes above $100 in the blink of an eye. Iran is no military match for the United States. But they can wreak havoc via inflation. Just like Russia in 2022." Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, praised Trump as the "Greatest President of my lifetime." "You may just not realize it yet," Maguire wrote in a post on X, alongside a picture of Trump with his fist in the air after he was wounded during an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. "Bulletproof instincts and nerves of steel." A vocal supporter of Trump and cofounder of Azoria investment firm, Fishback praised the US strikes — and criticized those who expressed concern over the rising geopolitical tensions — in a series of posts on X. "Iran can't possibly think this is the start of a U.S. offensive. Trump's been clear from the start: they can't have a nuke. We just accomplished that. We're done here," Fishback said in one post. "If Iran chooses to retaliate against a clearly telegraphed, one-and-done strike, they'd be signing their own death warrant. Trump was right." In a separate post, he added: "The Fordow nuclear site was a uranium enrichment facility, not a mosque. Not everything is Islamophobia. Calm down. Leave your weird identity politics out of this." Scholl, the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, which is developing what it calls the "world's fastest airliner," said in a post on X that he was "proud to be an American tonight." "We can all sleep safer knowing the most dangerous regime won't have the most dangerous weapons," he wrote. Lauder, one of the heirs of the Estee Lauder cosmetics company and a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist, said on X that a "nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat to Western civilization and global security." "It is my hope that today's historic operation by the United States has brought an end to the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions once and for all," he wrote. "I applaud President Trump and his administration for having the courage to act decisively, and for lending critical American support to Israel's effort to build a safer and more stable Middle East." The Lux Capital cofounder and partner has shared several posts on X in the wake of the US strikes, including one responding to Calacanis' initial suggestion that the US was "at war." "NO. We just helped stop MANY future wars," he wrote. Moskovitz, the cofounder of Asana and Good Ventures, responded critically to Trump's announcement that the US had struck multiple sites inside Iran. "Now is the time for peace, President Trump says immediately after starting a war," he wrote on Bluesky. Trump made the call for peace in all caps at the end of his Truth Social post announcing the attack. Read the original article on Business Insider
