Abrego Garcia's attorneys accuse DOJ of flouting order to share information

Attorneys for a mistakenly deported man say the government is rebuffing federal Judge Paula Xinis’s order to share information on the case as she pushes ahead with a review of whether it violated a court order to take steps to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Xinis last week ordered four Trump administration officials to sit for depositions with Abrego Garcia’s attorneys as well as respond to written questions from their team in the way of a Supreme Court decision ordering Trump attorneys to “facilitate” the Maryland man’s return.

But Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said the government has resisted supplying needed information in discovery requests also mandated by Xinis. 

“On the eve of the first Court-ordered deposition concerning the Government’s failure to comply with this Court’s orders, the Government responded to Plaintiffs’ discovery requests by producing nothing of substance,” they wrote in the filing, asking Xinis to set a hearing to review the matter.

The filing is the latest sign the Trump administration is digging in after initially telling Xinis it had no way to secure Abrego Garcia’s return once he was turned over to be imprisoned in El Salvador.

The Supreme Court largely upheld Xinis’s iniital ruling, saying that while she had to show “due regard” to the executive branch’s foreign affairs role, the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

“The Government refuses to respond to interrogatories it claims are ‘based on the false premise that the United States can or has been ordered to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador,’” his attorneys wrote, arguing the government was flouting the high court’s order.

“The Government refuses to provide any documents ‘concerning the legal basis for Abrego Garcia’s confinement.’ And the Government maintains that any information regarding the agreement between the United States and El Salvador to detain individuals in El Salvador is ‘irrelevant,’ despite this Court’s finding that Plaintiffs ‘are entitled to explore the lawful basis—if any—for Abrego Garcia’s continued detention.’” 

The Trump administration also refused to provide information before April 4, when Xinis ordered it to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Abrego Garcia.

Elsewhere in the filing, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said the Trump administration cited a number of privileges to bar releasing information but did not file the paperwork to formally assert them.

Xinis, a former President Obama appointee, has so far held off on deciding whether the government should be held in contempt but could still make a ruling down the road. 

It’s the latest in a string of incidents in which the government has been accused of defying court directives.

In another case concerning the Trump administration's flights removing more than 100 Venezuelans to a Salvadoran prison under the Alien Enemies Act, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found probable cause that the government gave “willful disregard” to his order to turn around or halt the flights.