A federal judge on Monday extended a temporary order barring federal immigration officials from re-detaining Kilmar Abrego Garcia, sharply scrutinizing the Trump administration’s intentions toward the once wrongfully deported man.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis noted at a hearing that Abrego Garcia was already deported illegally once and questioned whether federal officials could be trusted not to do it again, saying she was “growing beyond impatient” with repeated misrepresentations from the government.
“Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?” she asked, according to The Associated Press.
Abrego Garcia’s case became a flash point in the administration’s heightened efforts to expel noncitizens from the United States, after he was sent to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order barring his deportation there because of safety concerns.
A Salvadoran national who entered the U.S. illegally nearly 15 years ago, the administration has accused Abrego Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member, which he denies.
The case quickly went to the Supreme Court, and his return to the U.S. was ultimately facilitated in June as the Justice Department unsealed a human smuggling indictment against him in Tennessee; he has pleaded not guilty.
Xinis ruled on Dec. 11 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must to immediately release Abrego Garcia, finding it had no lawful authority to detain him. The next day, Xinis granted his attorneys’ request to bar the administration from trying to detain him again. Monday’s hearing centered on whether to keep the temporary restraining order intact.
The judge pressed Justice Department lawyers over the “extremely irregular and extraordinary situation” Abrego Garcia’s case presented, saying she would keep the order in place while she considers her next steps.
“You haven’t told me what you’re going to do next,” Xinis said, according to AP, explaining that the government has not clarified whether Abrego Garcia would face removal proceedings if her order was lifted.
She asked for a submission from the government by Friday, and a response from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers by Dec. 30, before ruling, several outlets reported. Until then, her order will remain intact.
Abrego Garcia himself attended the hearing alongside his wife and legal team, which comprised at least half a dozen defense attorneys as compared to the government’s lone present lawyer, AP reported.
Before his release, Abrego Garcia was in immigration detention since August, during which the government proposed sending him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana or Liberia.
Abrego Garcia maintained he should be allowed to instead be removed to Costa Rica, which offered him refugee status months ago and was designated as the country to which he wishes to be removed.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said Monday that he is prepared to go to Costa Rica “today.”
“You know who’s keeping Mr. Garcia in the United States right now? The federal government,” Abrego Garcia attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said after the hearing, according to AP.
The Associated Press contributed.