A US federal judge on Sunday ordered the Donald Trump administration for the second time to return Maryland man Kilmar Abregi Garcia, who was mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
In her order, district judge Paula Xinis blasted the US government’s handling of the case, while also noting that a now-suspended justice department lawyer admitted he didn't know why Garcia was being held in the first place.
The order comes just days after she gave a ruling in the case, ordering the return of the man. The Trump administration argued that the government can't facilitate the return of Garcia because he is no longer in US custody, but the judge shot down that argument.
“As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere. Having confessed grievous error, the defendants now argue that this Court lacks the power to hear this case, and they lack the power to order Abrego Garcia’s return,” judge Xinis said in the order, Associated Press reported.
The justice department has appealed the ruling in the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the order.
{{/usCountry}}The justice department has appealed the ruling in the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the order.
{{/usCountry}}In her Sunday order, judge Xinis referenced earlier comments from justice department attorney Erez Reuveni, who has now been suspended.
“We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador,” Reuveni had said. He responded with “I don’t know” when asked why Garcia was being held.
The justice department placed Reuveni on leave after he made the comments.
Attorney general Pam Bondi, in an interview on “Fox News on Sunday,” likened Reuveni's comments to “a defense attorney walking in, conceding something in a criminal matter.”
“That would never happen in this country. So he’s on administrative leave now, and we’ll see what happens,” she said.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a 29-year-old El Salvadoran national who was arrested in Maryland and deported last month despite an immigration judge’s 2019 ruling that shielded him from deportation to El Salvador, where he faced likely persecution by local gangs.
Garcia had a permit from the department of homeland security to legally work in the US, and he was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license. His wife is a US citizen.
The White House has described Abrego Garcia's deportation as an “administrative error” but has also cast him as an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.