By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last Friday after his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March should not end a judge’s investigation into whether Trump administration officials should be held in contempt for violating a court order, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said.
In a court filing on Sunday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers disputed the administration’s assertion that it was in compliance with Greenbelt, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ order to facilitate his return from El Salvador because it had brought him back to face criminal charges of migrant smuggling in Tennessee.
“Until the Government is held accountable for its blatant, willful, and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family, this case is not over,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote. “The executive branch’s wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution.”
Spokespeople for the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Abrego Garcia’s March 15 deportation to his native El Salvador, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he not be sent there because he could be persecuted by gangs, has emerged as a flashpoint for Republican President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.
Trump critics say the deportation of Garcia, a 29-year-old who had a work permit and whose wife and young child in Maryland are U.S. citizens, was a sign that the administration was disregarding civil liberties in its push to step up deportations.
Critics also said the administration’s failure to bring him back, even after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Xinis’ order that it facilitate his return, suggested the Trump administration was willing to defy unfavorable court rulings even though the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government under the U.S. Constitution.
Xinis on April 15 demanded U.S. officials provide documents and answer questions under oath about what it had done to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, in an investigation that could result in officials being held in contempt.
Trump administration officials have accused the judiciary of overstepping and interfering with the executive branch’s ability to conduct foreign policy. They also alleged Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, though he had not been charged with a crime at the time of his deportation.
Officials on Friday portrayed Abrego Garcia’s criminal indictment as vindication for their approach to deportations. A grand jury in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 21 indicted him on charges of transporting undocumented migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to locations around the country.
Abrego Garcia has not yet entered a plea and is detained pending his next court hearing on Friday. His lawyer has called the criminal charges “fantastical.”
In their filing on Sunday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said his immigration case would need to be handled as it would have been if he were not deported in order for the administration to be in compliance with Xinis’ order.
It was not immediately clear when Xinis would rule.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)
