By Steve Neavling
A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported and later indicted in Tennessee.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis called the government’s arguments “meritless” during a hearing Monday and criticized officials for failing to inform the court or Abrego Garcia’s attorneys when he was returned to the U.S. and indicted in June, ABC News reports. The judge had previously ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return after he was deported in March to El Salvador, where he was held in a notorious maximum-security prison.
“Obviously you did have power to produce Mr. Abrego because you produced him less than a week later,” Xinis told Justice Department attorney Bridget O’Hickey, pointing to a sealed indictment filed six days after the government claimed it had no authority to bring him back.
Abrego Garcia, who is charged with human trafficking in Tennessee, is asking the court to move him to Maryland and block his deportation. His attorneys said they learned he was back in the U.S. only after reading news reports.
Xinis questioned whether the government indicted Abrego Garcia in order to comply with her order and faulted the DOJ for withholding that information from her court.
“Is the indictment one of those steps? Since we are talking about my court order,” she asked.
The judge also dismissed a second DOJ argument that the lawsuit is now moot because Abrego Garcia is back in the U.S., saying the government has yet to offer assurances that he won’t be deported again without due process.
