(NewsNation) — Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are accusing government lawyers of stonewalling his case by failing to produce substantive information about what steps are being taken to facilitate the Maryland man’s release from an El Salvador prison after he was mistakenly deported.
A discovery deadline originally scheduled for Wednesday was extended until April 30 with the agreement of both sides, according to an order by U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing the case.
However, in a letter filed to the court, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys now argue that government lawyers have repeatedly failed to comply with an April 15 court order that granted Abrego Garcia’s legal team expedited discovery.
Xinis previously said that the government appeared to “have done nothing to aid in Abrego Garcia’s release from custody and return to the United States.”
This week, the judge wrote in a ruling, “For weeks, (the government) has sought refuge behind vague and unstantiated assertions of privilege using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders.”
What are Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys claiming?
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys maintain that the government is guilty of “producing nothing of substance” in response to requests for information. That includes any details about what the Trump administration is doing to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release.
Instead, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys claim the government has responded by saying that inquiries for information are “based on the false premise that the United States can or has been ordered to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador.”
Yet, that is specifically what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its decision when the matter reached the high court, as has the federal appeals court that sits directly over Xinis’ jurisdiction.
Rather than provide Abrego Garcia’s legal team with discovery, attorneys argue that the government’s documents have included only public filings from dockets, copies of the actual requests for discovery and correspondence. Other correspondence, attorneys argue, is “similarly non-responsive.”
Attorneys also allege that the government refuses to produce any information about Abrego Garcia’s initial placement in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia was deported last month despite being granted protective status from deportation in 2019. The government has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”, but federal officials, including those from the White House, have continued to argue that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Government’s response to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys’ claims
In response to Abrego Garcia’s legal team’s assertions, attorneys representing the U.S. government say that they have “put forward a good-faith effort” to provide appropriate responses to Abrego Garcia’s legal team’s requests.
However, government attorneys characterized Abrego Garcia’s attorneys’ insistence on examining the legal basis for their client’s confinement as “an absurdity.”
Government attorneys say that now that Abrego Garcia is being detained in El Salvador, that matter is up to the Salvadorian government rather than the U.S. They argue that requiring a detailed response about that matter would be “wholly inappropriate and an invasion of diplomatic discussions.”
Trump believes Kilmar Abrego Garcia is part of MS-13 gang
Trump administration officials, including Pam Bondi, have said that the decision to return Abrego Garcia would be up to El Salvador, which the country’s president has said he will not do.
President Donald Trump listed allegations against Abrego Garcia that the Department of Homeland Security reported, stating he was part of the MS-13 gang.
MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, has been designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department. The gang was created by immigrants from El Salvador in the United States before it gained traction in Central America, officials said.
Credit: U.S. District Court 
This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP) 
HYATTSVILLE, MD – APR 4: Jennifer, center, whose husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by ICE, is hugged by a staff member of CASA, at the CASA Multicultural Center during a press conference ahead of Garcia’s hearing. 
GREENBELT, MD – APR 4: Protestors stand outside the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland during Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hearing. HYATTSVILLE, MD – APR 4: Jennifer Vasquez Sura, whose husband Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by ICE, speaks at a rally and press conference at the CASA Multicultural Center ahead of his hearing. 
GREENBELT, MD – APR 4: Protestors stand outside the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland during Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hearing. 
HYATTSVILLE, MD – APR 4: Lucia Curiel, who represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia, speaks at a press conference and rally for Garcia before his hearing, at the CASA Multicultural Center. 
This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP)
“This man is a very violent person,” Trump said.
DHS officials wrote on X, “Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as.” In that post, the family’s home address and other personal information were not redacted.
Officials with DHS told MSNBC that the documents posted on X are accessible to the public.
Trump event met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who said he wouldn’t be sending Abrego Garcia back to the country.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has continued to advocate for him. She told reporters, “Enough is enough. My family can’t be robbed from another day without seeing Kilmar. This administration has already taken so much from my children, from Kilmar’s mother, brother, sisters and me.”
NewsNation’s Steven Joachim contributed to this story