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WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department has invoked the state secrets privilege to oppose Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s court-ordered return to the United States, court filings revealed on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinisordered the Trump administration to provide legal and factual bases for the invocation of the privilege by May 12. The Barack Obama appointee also scheduled a hearing on May 16 to review the claim.
The White House claims that the 29-year-old Maryland father is a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia was one of over a hundred migrants that the Trump administration imprisoned in El Salvador’s notoriously brutal Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT.
Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador as a teenager, fearing gang violence, and an immigration judge ruled that he couldn’t be sent back to his home country for fear of persecution. The administration admitted in multiple court filings that Abrego Garcia was put on the plane to CECOT by accident — however, the White House now claims that it never conceded the wrongful deportation.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump said he could call government officials in El Salvador to release Abrego Garcia, but refused to do so because of his supposed connection to MS-13. Trump cited a photoshopped image of tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles as evidence of his membership.
The Supreme Court ordered the administrationto facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. last month, but the Justice Department has sinceresisted any attempt to release him from prison and return him to U.S. custody.
The justices left the details of Abrego Garcia’s return to Xinis, who appeared deeply frustratedwith the administration’s lack of progress in April. Xinis scheduled two weeks of intensive discovery to review the government’s efforts to secure his release.
Since then, however, the Justice Department and Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have been filing sealed court documents. Court documents indicated that Xinis held a hearing last week before denying the Trump administration’s request for another pause. There is no transcript of the hearing.
On Tuesday, 14 news organizations asked to intervene in the case to unseal the documents. The news groups said Abrego Garcia’s high-profile case called for maximum transparency so that everyone could participate in and serve as a check on the government.
The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS News, Fox News, NPR, NBC and the New York Times were among the publications named in the motion.
Xinis stressed the importance of transparency and adherence to procedural rules when filing sealed documents.
“While provisional sealing was permitted in the early stages of this case to accommodate its expedited nature and to safeguard sensitive information, the parties must now strictly comply with the court’s local rules governing sealed filings,” Xinis wrote.
When asked about progress on Abrego Garcia’s return on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that neitherthe U.S. government nor the El Salvadorian government planned to release him.
“The Trump Administration provided ample evidence of Abrego Garcia’s gang affiliation and criminal history. President Bukele’s government has affirmed that evidence and does not intend to return Abrego Garcia to the United States because he is, in fact, an MS-13 gang member,” Leavitt said in an email.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the U.S. only needed to open the door for Abrego Garcia if the government of El Salvador released him. U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, issued a blistering rebuke when Justice Department attorneys made similar arguments in his court.
The government provided bare-bones information on Abrego Garcia’s condition, most of which was already public knowledge.
The biggest update on Abrego Garcia came from Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador. Van Hollen was given an unexpected meeting with Abrego Garcia, where he disclosed that he had been moved into a different prison.
A different Maryland judge re-upped her ruling to return a second Maryland man to the U.S. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Donald Trump appointee, refused to retract her April ruling requiring a man referred to in court as “Cristian” to be returned to the U.S.
The Justice Department said it plans to appeal Gallagher’s ruling.
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