A federal choose is briefly pausing discovery within the case of the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
U.S. District Choose Paula Xinis issued an order Wednesday night pausing expedited discovery within the case for seven days. The transfer got here after the Trump administration, in a sealed movement earlier within the day, requested the choose for the pause.
The choose’s order stated the pause was made with the settlement of each the federal government and attorneys representing Abrego Garcia.
On Tuesday, Xinis had ordered the government to more fully answer questions in regards to the wrongful deportation and to reply by Wednesday night to discovery requests from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys.
Final week, Xinis slammed Justice Division attorneys over their inaction within the case and ordered authorities officers to testify beneath oath by means of expedited discovery.
“On condition that this Court docket expressly warned Defendants and their counsel to stick strictly to their discovery obligations … their boilerplate, non-particularized objections are presumptively invalid and replicate a willful refusal to adjust to this Court docket’s Discovery Order and governing guidelines,” Xinis wrote Tuesday.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who has been residing together with his spouse and kids in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — regardless of a 2019 courtroom order barring his deportation to that nation on account of worry of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the legal gang MS-13.
The Trump administration, whereas acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has stated that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the USA. His spouse and lawyer have denied that he’s an MS-13 member.
Choose Xinis early this month dominated that the Trump administration should “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, and the U.S. Supreme Court docket unanimously affirmed that ruling, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Govt Department within the conduct of overseas affairs.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant on this handout picture obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025.
Abrego Garcia Household by way of Reuters
Earlier Tuesday, authorities attorneys asserted that offering detailed data on the authorized foundation for Abrego Garcia’s confinement could be “wholly inappropriate and an invasion of diplomatic discussions,” in line with a joint letter outlining the invention disputes between the events.
“Upon Abrego’s repatriation to El Salvador, his detention was not a matter of the USA’ confinement, however a matter belonging to the federal government of El Salvador — which has been defined to the Plaintiffs repeatedly,” the federal government stated.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia within the letter accused the Trump administration of responding to their discovery requests by producing “nothing of substance” and offering interrogatory responses which can be “non-responsive.”
