By Victoria Bisset, Steve Thompson · The Washington Post (c) 2025
The Trump administration did not comply with a federal judge’s order setting a Friday morning deadline for officials to lay out steps for the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador, calling it “impracticable” to adhere to a time limit set hours after the Supreme Court affirmed much of the judge’s previous order for the man’s return.
Justice Department lawyers instead asked to be allowed to have until Tuesday to provide the information, eliciting a rebuke from the judge, who gave them until 11:30 a.m. Friday, two more hours past her original deadline. In a response, the Justice Department said it is unable to provide the information in such a short time.
“In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court’s Order following the dissolution of the administrative stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they ‘can’ share any information requested by the Court,” a Justice Department attorney wrote in the reply. “That is the reality.”
The exchange marked another escalation in a tug-of-war between the executive and judicial branches that has prompted concern among legal experts that it could lead to a constitutional crisis.
On Thursday evening,U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had amended her earlier order for the government “to facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego García, after the Supreme Court directed her to clarify the order to the extent she required the Trump administration to “effectuate” his return, saying she may have exceeded her authority by infringing on the president’s powers. The Supreme Court ruled that her order to “facilitate” Abrego García’s return was proper.
“To this end, the Court hereby amends this Order to Direct that Defendants take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible,” Xinis’s order on Thursday said. She also ordered the Trump administration to provide Abrego García’s current location and status, as well as outline any steps taken so far to facilitate Abrego García’s return and identify any additional steps it plans to take, and when. She ordered the administration to file a declaration with the information by 9:30 a.m. Friday and scheduled a hearing for several hours later at 1 p.m.
As the 9:30 a.m. deadline passed, Justice Department lawyers filed a motion asking until 5 p.m. Tuesday to provide the information, saying the judge’s demand for immediate information was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s instruction that she clarify her order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”
Lawyers for Abrego García decried the administration’s defiance, saying in a court filing that the administration “did not take that time to ponder whether to remove Garcia – which it effectuated within 72 hours of his unlawful seizure – and it does not need that time to comply with this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s rulings.”
Xinis agreed, writing in her order Friday morning that the Supreme Court had affirmed Abrego García’s deportation was illegal, and that the administration’s “suggestion that they need time to meaningfully review a four-page Order that reaffirms this basic principle blinks at reality.”
The Justice Department in its reply questioned whether Xinis adhered to the Supreme Court’s direction for her to clarify her original order.
“The Court has not yet clarified what it means to ‘facilitate’ or ‘effectuate’ the return as it relates to this case, as Plaintiff is in the custody of a foreign sovereign,” the Justice Department said in its reply. “Defendants request – and require – the opportunity to brief that issue prior to being subject to any compliance deadlines.”
Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, was among more than 200 people expelled to El Salvador on March 15 – despite a court ruling prohibiting his removal. The Trump administration, which said it paid about $6 million to El Salvador for the detention of the deportees, has said it cannot remove Abrego García from the mega-prison because he is now in the custody of a foreign government.
Abrego García’s lawyers have said he “sits in a foreign prison solely at the behest of the United States, as the product of a Kafkaesque mistake.”
Xinis said in a 22-page decision issued Sunday that officials have provided “no evidence” that the 29-year-old was a gang member. She said the federal government has the authority to bring him back.
“This is not about Defendants’ inability to return Abrego García, but their lack of desire,” she wrote at the time.
The judge had ordered the government to return Abrego García to the United States by Monday night, but the Supreme Court issued a brief pause to give the justices time to weigh a government motion to block the order.
The Supreme Court said Thursday evening that Xinis’s earlier order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
Attorneys for Abrego García say the sheet metal apprentice and father of three is at risk of harm or death in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, which holds many gang members. He fled El Salvador as a teen after threats from gang members and attempts to extort his mother.
The Justice Department last week suspended a veteran lawyer who acknowledged that Abrego García was mistakenly deported and said he did not know the legal basis for the decision.