Trump officials ordered to testify on Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Apr 15, 2025

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A federal judge on Tuesday ordered government officials to testify about what they’ve done to seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant from El Salvador who was mistakenly deported from Maryland to a notorious megaprison in his homeland.

U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis ordered rapid-fire depositions of Trump officials in the next two weeks to detail what, if anything, they’ve done to comply with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to “facilitate” Garcia’s return to the U.S.

“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” Xinis said.

A lawyer for the Justice Department asked Xinis to put her order on hold to allow the agency time to appeal, but she refused.

“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Xinis said. “There is nothing to appeal.”

The judge scoffed at the government’s effort to point to the chummy White House discussion between President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, in which the Central American strongman said he didn’t have the power to return Garcia.

“That’s a nonresponsive answer if that was in a court of law,” the judge said.

Trump and Bukele have both said they won’t do anything to release Garcia or return him to the U.S.

Lawyers for Garcia called on Xinis to “at least” order the U.S. government to ask El Salvador to free him.

Prosecutors might still appeal the judge’s new order back to the Supreme Court, which may clarify its order that tweaked Xinis’s original order to “effectuate” the return of Garcia and replaced the term with the word “facilitate.”

A delegation of Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Van Hollen, D-Md., vowed to journey to El Salvador to press for Garcia’s release and return.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has asserted the administration is complying with the top court’s edict because it stands ready to fly Garcia back to the U.S. if El Salvador hands him over.

Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors said that if Garcia is returned to the U.S., immigration authorities would detain him and terminate the order barring his deportation back to El Salvador.

Garcia’s case has put a harsh spotlight on the role being played by El Salvador as a crucial partner in Trump’s plan for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Trump has also suggested he could try to send Americans accused or convicted of crimes to prison in El Salvador, even though legal analysts say that would be unconstitutional.

Hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants were recently sent to the megaprison over allegations of gang membership. The Trump administration has paid Bukele’s government $6 million to jail them for a year.

At least 10 more Venezuelans were deported to El Salvador last weekend. Trump has suggested he plans to send more immigrants deported under the terms of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to the prison.

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