US judge vows to rule ‘soon’ on Abrego Garcia’s fate after marathon hearing

GREENBELT, MD— A federal judge in Maryland on Friday vowed to issue a ruling “as soon as possible” in a case involving the legal status of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the Trump administration’s plans to deport him from the United States to a third country within days — capping an extraordinary marathon hearing that lasted nearly seven hours — and dominated headlines and federal court agendas for months.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis adjourned court Friday evening with the promise of a decision on the matter as soon as possible. But much of the hearing was interrupted by Xinis’ incredulous objections and frequent “sidebar” requests in which attorneys argued both sides of the case.

The frequent pauses were a bit of an aberration for Judge Xinis, who has presided over various versions of Abrego’s civil trial since March, and he acknowledged as much.

“I’ve always been an advocate for smooth jazz,” he joked.

Certain parts of the day went much less smoothly. Xinis blasted the Trump administration for failing to provide a witness to testify to the court about what steps it had taken to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s deportation to a third country, describing the official who took the stand as a witness who “knew little to nothing” about the case and described the countries they were considering sending him to.

“This seems to be in direct contravention of the court,” he said shortly before adjourning for the day.

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Xinis had ordered an evidentiary hearing Monday to consider a request from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to release him from immigration detention pending further action in his case and to question a Trump administration official with “firsthand” knowledge of the government’s efforts to facilitate his deportation to Eswatini, the third country where Trump officials say they plan to send him.

Still, the trial was notable more for what it failed to produce than for what it did produce. Judge Xinis struggled to clarify seemingly contradictory statements and statements from Trump officials, including which countries did and did not accept Abrego Garcia and when.

Trump administration lawyers acknowledged to Xinis that they had previously identified three African countries—Uganda, Ghana, and Eswatini—as appropriate third country locations for Abrego Garcia’s deportation, pending the termination of the emergency order to keep him in the United States.

However, they mistakenly represented the positions of both Ghana and Eswatini. As of this writing, none of the three governments mentioned has agreed to accept Abrego Garcia.

Xinis focused on that detail Friday night.

“Now that we know Costa Rica is on the table, have there been any discussions about removing him? [there]?” asked Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign. He said there was no such thing.

“From where?” Xinis was raided. “You don’t want him in the country, that’s what you said,” he said, referring more broadly to the Trump administration’s views. “You have a country that will take it. You have a plaintiff who says, ‘I’ll go there.'”

He said it was a “hard to swallow” idea that the government was still pressuring other nations to accept it.

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Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, stands with demonstrators gathered in support of Garcia outside federal court during the hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty) (Getty Images)

Many of the key details emerged after hours of grueling interrogation with John Schultz, ICE’s deputy director of Enforcement and Deportation Operations, who the government named as a witness.

Despite his 20 years of experience at DHS, he appeared to have little knowledge of the case in question. He was unable to answer most of Xinis’ questions about the government’s plans to deport Abrego Garcia; these included basic questions about who within DHS’s ranks was assigned to handle Abrego Garcia’s case and the status of various deportation requests and communications with the countries it identified.

Asked if he had been involved in Abrego Garcia’s case before Tuesday, Schultz said only that he “reviewed her case in March” but could not recall “in what capacity.”

Trump officials told Xinis at Friday’s hearing that the Eswatini government initially refused to accept Abrego Garcia, but that they were now having “additional discussions” on the issue and were unable to reach a consensus.

Trump officials said that if the Eswatini government agreed to take Abrego Garcia, they could arrange for a plane to transport him “within 72 hours” until Xinis terminated the court order requiring Abrego Garcia to be held in the continental United States.

Two other countries, Uganda and Ghana, denied this claim more clearly.

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Ghana’s foreign minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, said on social media Friday morning that his country had rejected the US request to accept Abrego Garcia and that the request had been “conveyed directly and clearly to US officials”.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Andrew Rossman, noted the lack of assurances from three African countries, including two that flatly denied his claim.

Rossman argued that the government’s goal was to “identify a number of countries that have no connection to Abrego Garcia and have not shown any willingness to receive him.”

Lawyers for Abrego Garcia speak with reporters outside U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, in July. (Breanne Deppisch/Fox News Digital) (Breanne Deppisch/Fox News Digital)

Instead, they argued that he should be sent to Costa Rica; That was the country to which DHS officials offered to send him in coordination with a guilty plea in a separate criminal case in Nashville in which he was indicted on two smuggling charges.

Hours after he rejected the plea offer, the government sent his lawyers a deportation notice to Uganda. Despite the language of the declaration, the Ugandan government was not even asked to receive Abrego Garcia, let alone accept it. This detail was one of many that were painstakingly uncovered for hours on Friday.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, meanwhile, told the court that Garcia “is willing and able to immediately board a plane” to go to Costa Rica if ICE agrees to send him there.

His attorney, Andrew Rossman, argued that the court should order his release from immigration detention, arguing that “the government did not and does not currently detain Mr. Abrego for the purpose of ensuring his lawful deportation,” but rather as a means of punishment.

The Costa Rican government agreed to accept Abrego Garcia, outlining in writing some of the assurances it had made to the United States, including granting him refugee status there and promising not to “recharge” him or re-deport him to his native El Salvador, in accordance with a 2019 court order from an immigration judge.

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Xinis, however, was sympathetic to this view.

He also expressed new frustration that Trump administration lawyers have twice failed to provide the court with a witness who could speak to Abrego Garcia’s case.

“What efforts did the government make before Monday to find a third country to accept Abrego?” Xinis asked Trump administration officials this question at one point during the hearing.

As they struggled to answer, he stated: “This is very disturbing to me.”

Trump administration lawyers are free to appeal any decision Judge Xinis makes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; The Second Lieutenant of the Ministry of Justice stated that they could do it shortly before the court was adjourned.

Xinis later warned that the government’s margin for error was very small.

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“I’m trying really hard to give you the benefit of the doubt,” he told the Lieutenant. But at this point, “it’s approaching three innings, you’re out.”