GREENBELT, Maryland: A US judge on Tuesday (Apr 15) demanded US officials provide documents and answer questions under oath about what it had done to secure the return of a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, ramping up an inquiry into whether the Trump administration defied a court order.
US District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland that she would not immediately hold the government in contempt of court, but said the documents and closed-door testimony would help her weigh the Trump administration’s compliance with her earlier order to “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return.
The judge last week ordered Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to provide her with daily updates about the steps it was taking to get him back. On Tuesday, she said the administration had not given her any information of value about what it had done.
“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” said Xinis, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama. “To date, what the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing.”
At the same time, the judge said she was not ordering the administration to ask El Salvador’s government to return Abrego Garcia – even though she called its refusal to ask for his release “stunning.”
“I’m not ordering you to do that,” Xinis said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be there.”
Abrego Garcia was deported on Mar 15 despite an order protecting him from removal to El Salvador. His case is one of several that have sparked concerns among Democrats and some legal analysts that Trump’s administration is willing to disregard the judiciary, an independent and equal branch of government.
Administration officials have accused the judiciary of overstepping and interfering with the executive branch’s ability to conduct foreign policy.
The administration’s confrontations with the judiciary come as it is also applying what critics say is unprecedented pressure on other US institutions that have long cherished their independence from partisan politics.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status after it rejected what it called unlawful demands to overhaul academic programs or lose federal grants, part of a broader push to punish universities over their handling of pro-Palestinian student protests.
Trump has also targeted law firms he says have ties to his legal and political adversaries with executive orders restricting their ability to conduct their work. On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked most of an order targeting law firm Susan Godfrey, but lamented that other firms had “capitulated” by reaching deals with the administration to avoid becoming targets themselves.
