US judge presses Trump administration on refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia

A federal judge has said she will order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

US District Judge Paula Xinis issued her order after Trump officials continually refused to retrieve Mr Abrego Garcia. She said they had defied a “clear” Supreme Court order.

She also disregarded Monday’s comments by White House officials and El Salvador’s president that they were unable to bring back Mr Abrego Garcia, describing their statements as “two very misguided ships passing in the night”.

“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Judge Xinis said, adding that what was said in the Oval Office on Monday “is not before the court”.

She said she will call for the evidence of government officials, including Robert Cerna, the acting field office director for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She expects the process to last about two weeks.

“The bottom line is it was a very simple directive,” Judge Xinis said of her own order for the US to return Mr Abrego Garcia. “I’ve got nothing. I’ve got no real response.”

The hearing came a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country. The president of El Salvador also said on Monday that he would not return Mr Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States”.

Mr Abrego Garcia’s deportation has become a flashpoint as President Donald Trump follows up on campaign promises of mass deportations, including to an El Salvador prison.

After Tuesday’s hearing, a crowd outside the federal court house in Maryland chanted: “What do we want? Due process. When do want it? Now!”

A lawyer for Mr Abrego Garcia said contempt proceedings could be the logical next step after the discovery phase. “This is still a win, and this is still progress,” Rina Ghandi said. “We’re not done yet, though.”

Mr Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said shortly before Tuesday’s hearing that he was working hard to achieve the American dream for his family.

“That dream was shattered on March 12 when he was abducted and disappeared by the United States government in front of our five-year-old-child,” she said. “Today is 34 days after his disappearance… I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive.”

Mr Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the US for roughly 14 years, during which he worked in construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.

A US immigration judge had shielded him from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he was likely to face persecution there by local gangs who had terrorised his family.

He was also given a federal permit to work in the US, where he was a metal worker and union member, according to Mr Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.

But the Trump administration expelled him to El Salvador last month anyway. Administration officials later described the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisted that Mr Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang in Long Island, New York – where he has never lived.

He was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations.

Judge Xinis had ordered the Trump administration in early April to bring Mr Abrego Garcia back, and the US Supreme Court agreed last week that the government must “facilitate” his release.

But the White House has baulked at trying to broker his return, arguing the courts cannot intrude on the president’s diplomacy powers.

In a filing on Tuesday afternoon, Trump administration lawyers said the government is prepared to facilitate Mr Abrego Garcia’s return, but they said his protection from being deported to El Salvador would be removed, and he could be deported again to El Salvador or to a third country.

In a court filing on Tuesday, his lawyers rejected the idea that the US lacks the authority to retrieve him. They noted that the US is paying El Salvador to hold prisoners, including Mr Abrego Garcia, and “can exercise those same contractual rights to request their release”.