Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of pretending for weeks to be powerless to bring him back to the United States from El Salvador, despite orders from a federal judge and the Supreme Court to facilitate his return.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys made the allegation in a court filing shortly after the Maryland construction worker was flown to Tennessee on Friday to face federal human smuggling charges.
“(T)he Government has always had the ability to return Abrego Garcia, but it has simply refused to do so,” the attorneys wrote, arguing that the administration has “engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia.”
The attorneys said the lawsuit over his mistaken deportation has not concluded in a Maryland federal court.
“The executive branch’s wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution,” the attorneys wrote. “If there is to be any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys made that argument in response to a filing by the Trump administration to halt the lawsuit’s proceedings because he’s back in the U.S.
U.S. attorneys asked for an immediate stay after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges in Tennessee. The attorneys wrote that the government complied with the Maryland federal court’s order to return Abrego Garcia. The U.S. intends to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
In a court filing on Tuesday, the Trump administration pushed back against the accusations of Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, describing them as baseless, desperate and disappointing.
“But the proof is in the pudding — Defendants have returned Abrego Garcia to the United States just as they were ordered to do,” the U.S. attorneys wrote. “None of Plaintiffs’ hyperbolic arguments change that or justify further proceedings in this matter.”
U.S. officials said Abrego Garcia was deported because of a 2019 accusation from local police in Maryland that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia has denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.
Abrego Garcia’s deportation violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded him from expulsion to his native country. The immigration judge had determined that Abrego Garcia faced likely persecution by a local Salvadoran gang that had terrorized his family.
Abrego Garcia’s American wife sued over his deportation. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered his return on April 4. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the administration must work to bring him back.
Arguments ensued over the next several weeks about whether the Trump administration was following those orders or not. Meanwhile, Trump said publicly that he could return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. with a call to El Salvador’s president.
The federal judge in Maryland ordered U.S. attorneys to submit documents and testimony to show what the government had done to follow her orders. The Trump administration claimed that much of that information is protected under the state secrets privilege. The judge has not ruled on that matter.
