In a packed Maryland courtroom, a federal judge turned up the heat on former Trump administration officials, ordering top Homeland Security and ICE personnel to sit for depositions over the mishandled deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a man sent to El Salvador despite a standing court order protecting him from removal.
Judge Paula Xinis made it clear: she’s not playing.
“What the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing,” she said flatly, criticizing the government’s failure to provide meaningful updates or actions after she demanded they “facilitate” Garcia’s return.
Garcia, who had legal protection against deportation, was nonetheless expelled on March 15 and is now held in El Salvador’s controversial Terrorism Confinement Center, alongside hundreds of migrants deported under a little-used 18th-century law. His case has become a flashpoint in an escalating confrontation between the judiciary and a White House eager to expand executive power—especially when it comes to immigration and foreign affairs.
Though Xinis stopped short of holding the government in contempt, she made one thing clear: evasion won’t cut it. Depositions are now required from four officials who previously submitted sworn declarations. Their deadline? April 23.
Despite the court’s directive, the Trump administration insists it has already done its part—arguing that by lifting barriers at U.S. ports of entry, they’ve “facilitated” Garcia’s return. The judge was unimpressed, dismissing that interpretation as a deliberate misreading of the order.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio—flanked by Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele—staked out a hardline stance: foreign policy is presidential turf, not the courts’. Bukele, for his part, claimed he lacks the authority to send Garcia back.
Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, spoke outside the courthouse through tears and frustration:
“I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar.”
Back inside, Judge Xinis echoed the same concern—warning that political posturing would not be tolerated.
The legal saga plays out against a broader backdrop of aggressive moves by the Trump administration: threatening universities, issuing executive orders aimed at adversarial law firms, and challenging the limits of judicial oversight. In Garcia’s case, critics argue the deportation wasn’t just a bureaucratic mishap—it was a defiant gesture against court authority.
On Wednesday, Senator Chris Van Hollen announced plans to visit El Salvador to meet with officials and check on Garcia’s condition personally. Whether diplomacy will do what the courts so far cannot—bring Garcia home—remains to be seen.
But one thing is clear: the judge wants more than lip service. She wants results.
