A Maryland federal judge criticized government attorneys on Friday during a hearing regarding the efforts to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident, from a prison in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to El Salvador last month for being an alleged MS-13 gang member. His attorneys maintain that he has no ties to the violent gang.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis questioned DOJ attorney Drew Ensign about Abrego Garcia’s location after the Supreme Court upheld Xinis’ order that federal officials must arrange his return to Maryland.
Xinis asked Ensign where Abrego Garcia was and under whose authority, to which Ensign replied, “I do not have that info.”
MARYLAND IMMIGRANT WRONGLY DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR MUST RETURN TO US, SUPREME COURT RULES
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison last month for being an alleged MS-13 gang member. His attorneys, however, have maintained that he does not have any ties to the gang. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)
“I do not have that knowledge, and therefore I cannot relay that info to the court,” Ensign said. “They have not provided that confirmation before this hearing.”
The judge was unsatisfied with the government’s answer. “I’m not asking for state secrets. I’m asking where one man is,” Xinis responded. “The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: ‘Where is he?’”
After Ensign again said he did not have the information on hand, Xinis said, “That is extremely troubling.”
In a Thursday order, the Supreme Court noted that “The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal.”
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The high court proceeded to say that Xinis’ order “properly requires the government to ‘facilitate’ 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.”
Ensign made it clear during the Friday hearing that the government intended to comply with the Supreme Court’s order. When asked what had been done thus far to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, Ensign said it was “unclear.”
“That means they haven’t done anything,” Xinis responded.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, speaks during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., on Friday, Apr. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Xinis and Ensign had a discussion about their interpretation of the high court’s order. Ensign said the government understood the order to require that it must “hear what the executive branch says in a brief.”
“We read the Supreme Court’s order differently,” Ensign said. “It said deference to the executive branch.”
Xinis, on the other hand, said she interpreted that the government take all the necessary steps to expedite the return.
“I hear you and disagree,” Xinis responded.
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Xinis then requested daily updates as the case progressed “from a person with direct knowledge,” stating that she would be issuing an order detailing the request.
“My message, for what it’s worth is, if you can do it, do it tomorrow. I don’t understand why it can’t be done,” Xinis said.
Ensign mentioned that he believed the orders were “impractical” but reiterated that the government would comply with the Supreme Court’s order.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked to comment on the matter during a Friday briefing ahead of El Salvador’s president visiting the White House next week.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked to weigh in on the matter during a Friday briefing in light of El Salvador’s president visiting the White House next week.
“The Supreme Court made their ruling very clear last night that it’s the administration’s responsibility to facilitate the return, not to effectuate the return,” Leavitt said.
Abrego Garcia was arrested in Baltimore on March 12 after working his shift as a sheet metal apprentice. The complaint states that he had also picked up his now-five-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house before his arrest.
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Abrego Garcia had fled El Salvador to escape gang violence, according to court documents. Gang members “stalked, hit, and threatened to kidnap and kill him in order to coerce his parents to succumb to their increasing demands for extortion” starting in 2006.
He entered the United States illegally in 2011 and began living in Maryland with his brother, who is an American citizen.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
