Abrego Garcia fate hangs as judge grills DOJ on removal order

GREENBELT, MD — Lawyers for Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia urged a federal judge in Maryland on Thursday to bar the Trump administration from deporting their client to a third country, Liberia; This is the latest development in a nine-month legal battle that has garnered international attention and dominated headlines and court proceedings for months.

That effort fell short Thursday after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis tried and failed to answer a more fundamental question about whether the government had obtained a final deportation order for Abrego Garcia to be deported from the United States.

Without that document, he said, Abrego Garcia is “at least” entitled to some immediate relief under Supreme Court precedent, just as the Justice Department is free to seek relief from higher courts.

“You put forward all these arguments, and they all depend on the stay of my deportation order,” Xinis said Thursday. he said.

Although he promised to make a decision “soon,” Thursday’s hearing ended with few satisfactory answers; This greatly upset federal judge Xinis, who has presided over Abrego Garcia’s civil and habeas proceedings since March.

“Today was zero in my opinion,” he said at one point with obvious anger.

US JUDGE VOWS TO DETERMINATE ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE ‘Soon’ AFTER MARATHON HEARING

Trump administration lawyers had asked Xinis to rescind the emergency order he issued in August that Abrego Garcia remain in U.S. immigration custody.

They told him earlier this month that they planned to immediately deport him to a third country, Liberia, until the emergency order was lifted.

They had previously tried to send Abrego Garcia to the African countries of Eswatini, Uganda and briefly Ghana, but they failed.

At Thursday’s hearing, Xinis again scolded the Justice Department for failing to tell the court why Costa Rica, which had previously guaranteed to grant Abrego Garcia legal status in the country and not send him back to his home country, El Salvador, was now off the table.

“You are saying that Costa Rica has now canceled the offer they made to Abrego Garcia,” he said. “But there’s this in the offer, [on] “registration was not conditional,” he said. “That’s what I don’t understand.”

“And if you’re saying that… I’d love to see the evidence so I can make sure this isn’t just an empty affidavit salad,” he added.

ABREGO GARCIA WILL REMAIN WITH US FOR THE MOMENT WHILE THE JUDGE TAKES THE CASE UNDER ADVISORY

Split photo of President Donald Trump (left) and a protester (right) holding a sign encouraging the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who was deported to his home country in March in violation of a court order. Trump officials said his deportation was an administrative error. (images via Getty) (Getty Images)

Xinis used the remainder of the hearing to answer the central question of whether the government had issued a notice of impeachment.

“I want us to be open,” Xinis said. “I’m just interested in finding the suspension notice.”

Without that, he is expected to order the release of Abrego Garcia, citing the precedent-setting case.n Zadvydas v. Davis, A case in the Supreme Court prohibiting the government from detaining immigrants indefinitely after a deportation order has been issued.

This would ostensibly allow Abrego Garcia to remain in the U.S. with his brother to stand trial in the criminal case in Nashville, but the Justice Department would almost certainly seek relief from a higher court.

The order will also allow him to attend a two-day evidentiary hearing in Tennessee next month focused on his request to dismiss the case against him for “vindictive” and selective prosecution, despite the stated objections of Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign, who argued that the removal order was in fact on the books.

He also suggested that the immigration judge in the case “intended” to issue a deportation order.

A protester holds a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland. (Getty Images)

“This is unlike anything,” he responded. “Not even close.”

Before adjourning the trial, Xinis made it clear that this would be the final hearing of Abrego Garcia’s habeas case; He stated to both parties that he considered the registration “closed” and that he would make a decision in the coming days.

Xinis was also angered that the Department of Justice did not provide the court with a witness who would testify “with knowledge of the case” and explain the government’s plans to deport Abrego Garcia to the third country of Liberia and why it had provided only temporary assurances for Abrego Garcia’s admission to the country.

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Still, he told the Justice Department: “Frankly, I don’t even know if that matters here, because if I make a finding that a final order is not available, then we’re done.”