A US federal judge has rebuked a government lawyer who could not explain what the Trump administration had done to arrange for the return of a father who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Judge Paula Xinis demanded at a hearing that the administration identify the whereabouts of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was under an order protecting him from deportation.
"Where is he and under whose authority?" Judge Xinis asked in a Maryland courtroom.
"I'm not asking for state secrets," she said, "All I know is that he's not here."
"The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador. And now I'm asking a very simple question: Where is he?"
The judge repeatedly asked Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney-general, about what had been done to arrange the return of Mr Abrego Garcia, but Mr Ensign said he did not know what had been done.
Mr Ensign said the government was "actively considering what could be done" and noted that Mr Abrego Garcia's case involved three cabinet agencies and significant coordination.
He said that the government would comply with the Supreme Court's ruling but that the judge's deadlines for providing her with information about his location and plans to return him were too tight.
"We simply believe that the court's deadlines are impracticable, but that is not to say that the government is not intending to comply with the Supreme Court's order," Mr Ensign said.
Before the hearing ended, Judge Xinis ordered the US government to provide daily status updates on its plans to return Mr Abrego Garcia.
Trump's administration acknowledged that the deportation of Mr Abrego Garcia was a mistake but said it could not immediately bring him back because diplomatic relations could not operate at the speed with which the courts were demanding.
Asked on Friday if US President Donald Trump would seek the return of Mr Abrego Garcia on Monday when he met Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the Supreme Court ruling made clear the administration's responsibility was to "facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, not to effectuate the return".
His family is fighting to get him back
Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal had been an "emotional rollercoaster".
"I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home," she said.
Mr Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador because of persecution by local gangs, according to his immigration court records.
He lived in Maryland for roughly 14 years, during which he worked in construction, married a US citizen and was raising three children with disabilities.
In 2019, he was accused by local police of being in the MS-13 gang, court records stated. He denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime.
A US immigration judge subsequently shielded him from deportation to El Salvador because of likely gang persecution in his native country, according to records. He had a federal permit to work in the US and was a sheet metal apprentice, his attorney said.
The Trump administration deported Mr Abrego Garcia to an El Salvador prison anyway, later describing the mistake as "an administrative error" but insisting that he was in MS-13. The administration also argued that the US lacked the power to retrieve the Salvadoran national because he was no longer in the US.
However, Judge Xinis ordered the US to return him, writing that his deportation appeared to be "wholly lawless".
"There is little to no evidence to support a 'vague, uncorroborated' allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang," Judge Xinis wrote.
Trump's administration ordered to bring Abrego Garcia home
In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the administration's emergency appeal of Judge Xinis's order.
The court said: "The order properly requires the government to 'facilitate' Mr Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador."
The court's liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct "its egregious error" and was "plainly wrong" to suggest it could not bring him home.
The Supreme Court has issued a string of rulings on its emergency docket, where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Mr Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president's sweeping agenda.
In Thursday's case, the court said Judge Xinis's order must be clarified to ensure it did not intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs since Mr Abrego Garcia was being held abroad.
ABC/wires
