Executive Branch
Abrego Garcia is back in US, but government stonewalling merits contempt inquiry, court filing says
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in Central America, speaks during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, on April 4. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)
Lawyers for a mistakenly deported Maryland immigrant are asking a federal judge to pursue contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for “an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders” in the case seeking his return—even though the Salvadoran man is back in the United States.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States from a prison in El Salvador in Central America on Friday to face charges of illegally transporting immigrants within the United States, report Reuters, Bloomberg Law and the New York Times.
His May 21 indictment in federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee was unsealed Friday.
President Donald Trump said Saturday in an NBC News interview the decision to return Abrego Garcia was made by the U.S. Department of Justice, rather than himself, Reuters reports in a separate story.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued in a June 8 court filing that a federal judge should continue discovery to determine whether contempt proceedings are warranted.
“By proffering witnesses without knowledge, hiding behind questionable assertions of a potpourri of privileges, and deliberately foot-dragging on written discovery, the government has stonewalled plaintiffs and the court’s efforts to get at the truth,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of the District of Maryland.
CNN and the New York Times covered the lawyers’ June 8 court filing, which opposes the government’s June 6 request to stay court deadlines pending its upcoming motion to dismiss the case. The government said it was providing notice that it complied with a court order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return because he is now in the United States to face criminal charges.
Lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are among those representing Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported and sent to a prison in El Salvador.
“The dichotomy between the lip service government lawyers have paid the court about supposed efforts to comply and the hostility and intransigence displayed by the White House and Cabinet members has been stark and chilling,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote. “Two things are now crystal clear. First, the government has always had the ability to return Abrego Garcia, but it has simply refused to do so. Second, the government has conducted a determined stalling campaign to stave off contempt sanctions long enough to concoct a politically face-saving exit from its own predicament.”
See also:
Appeals court excoriates Trump administration in illegal deportation case
Supreme Court says Trump officials must ‘facilitate’ return of wrongly deported man
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