The Trump administration complied with a court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador, attorneys for the Department of Justice argued in a court filing on Tuesday.
The filing came in the federal case in Maryland in which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered the government to facilitate his return to the United States.
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S. on Friday to face criminal charges in Tennessee, following a series of court battles in which the Trump administration repeatedly said it was unable to bring him back.
MORE: Prosecutors seek pre-trial detention hearing for Abrego Garcia following his return
In a court filing on Sunday, lawyers for Abrego Garcia argued that, despite his return, the Maryland court case is not over because the court continues to have a role “to ensure that [Abrego Garcia’s] case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador” — and that the government must be “held accountable” for “its blatant, willful, and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family.”
In Tuesday’s court filing, Justice Department attorneys said that “Defendants have done exactly what Plaintiffs asked for and what this Court ordered them to do: Plaintiff Abrego Garcia has been returned to the United States.”
The government “made diligent efforts to pull down domestic barriers preventing Abrego Garcia from entering” the U.S. and engaged in diplomatic discussions with the Salvadoran government to bring him back, Justice Department attorneys said in their request for a stay of all case deadlines.
The DOJ said it intends to file a motion to dismiss the case by next week.
Calling Abrego Garcia’s attorneys’ request to continue the case “desperate and disappointing,” the filing said, “In the face of Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, they baselessly accuse Defendants of ‘foot-dragging’ and ‘intentionally disregard[ing] this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s orders.'”
The government argued that, prior to Abrego Garcia’s return, they were unable to share information “that would have demonstrated their good faith with the court’s orders” due to restrictions on state secrets and other classified material.
“But the proof is in the pudding — Defendants have returned Abrego Garcia to the United States just as they were ordered to do,” the filing said. “None of Plaintiffs’ hyperbolic arguments change that or justify further proceedings in this matter.”
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
A two-count indictment unsealed Friday alleges that Abrego Garcia participated in a yearslong conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country, involving the domestic transport of thousands of noncitizens from Mexico and Central America, including some children, in exchange for thousands of dollars.
