Trump people stalling….Ain’t obeying the judges order ….
The Trump administration on Friday defied a federal judge’s order to provide an explanation for how it intended to bring back to the United States a Maryland man who was unlawfully deported to El Salvador last month.
In an aggressive two-page filing, Justice Department lawyers told the judge, Paula Xinis, that she had not given them enough time to figure out what they planned to do about the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, after the Supreme Court ordered the administration on Thursday to “facilitate” his return to U.S. soil.
“Defendants are unable to provide the information requested by the court on the impracticable deadline set by the court hours after the Supreme Court issued its order,” the department lawyers wrote.
“In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court order,” the lawyers went on, “defendants are not in a position where they ‘can’ share any information requested by the court. That is the reality.”
The administration’s refusal to comply with Judge Xinis’s directives put it on a collision course with the judge and threatened to erupt into a showdown between the executive and judicial branches. The White House has had tension with judges in other cases — particularly those involving President Trump’s deportation policies — but the conflict with Judge Xinis was one of the most contentious yet….
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The Federal judges order that HAS NOT been obeyed…
“To this end, the Court hereby amends this Order to Direct that Defendants take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible,” the judge wrote.
Xinis said the government must also outline any steps taken so far to facilitate Abrego García’s return and identify any additional steps it plans to take, and when. She ordered the administration to file a declaration confirming his location by 9:30 a.m. Friday and scheduled an in-person hearing for 1 p.m. the same day….
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The judge had ordered the government to return Abrego García to the United States by Monday night, but the Supreme Court issued a brief pause to give the justices time to weigh a government motion to block the order.
The Supreme Court said Thursday evening that Xinis’s earlier 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.”
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Joyce Vance on the state of play on this case….
Judge Xinis gave the government until 11:30 a.m. ET to respond. She still intends to hold her hearing. She advised the government that:
- Its “act of sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was wholly illegal from the moment it happened, and Defendants have been on notice of the same. Indeed, as the Supreme Court credits, ‘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.’”
- The government’s “suggestion that they need time to meaningfully review a four-page Order that reaffirms this basic principle blinks at reality.”
- Nothing the Supreme Court did prohibits the district court from acting quickly. “As the Supreme Court plainly stated, ‘the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps,’…all against the backdrop of this Court’s needing to ‘ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.’”
The battle lines are drawn. As we discussed last night, the government is likely to go through another cycle of delay and appeal. In the meantime, Abrego Garcia continues to sit in a place far worse than any American prison, a place the district judge wrote, has “some of the most inhumane and squalid conditions known in any carceral system.”
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The Suprme’s backed up the judge’s order to bring Garcia back….
9 Zip…..
It’s a hugely important case that just became even more important. So let’s break down where we are and where it goes from here.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling that ordered the administration to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man whom the administration has admitted it wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Very notably, the order featured no dissents, even from the most Trump-aligned justices. That made the court at least appear unanimous in ruling against the administration….
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