Judge rejects feds’ bid to delay Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation case over government shutdown

A Maryland judge Monday rejected a bid by the Trump administration to delay alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation case because of the government shutdown.

US District Judge Paula Xinis said during a hearing in Greenbelt federal court Monday that she was “duty bound” to keep the case moving since it touches upon the important topic of whether the Trump administration’s deportation policies are legal, according to a report by ABC News.

The feds asked that all deadlines in Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit be suspended over the shutdown, claiming federal lawyers were only allowed to work — whether paid or even voluntarily — in emergency cases that effect human safety and protection of property.

“Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate argued in a court filing.

Federal judges will continue to be paid as the US courts system will remain up and running at least through Oct. 14 in spite of the shutdown, according to the courts’ website.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers opposed the postponement and said their client should be released from Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, since the feds weren’t going to be making any immediate progress on their efforts to boot him from the country.

Xinis repeatedly pressed government lawyers during Monday’s hearing about what steps they had taken in seeking to send Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national — to either third-party country, Uganda or Eswatini, but they were unable to come up with any clear answer.

“That’s not a tenable position. You’ve either done it or you haven’t,” the judge said. “It’s not a hard question, guys.”

The government lawyers pointed toward the shutdown as an explanation for why they couldn’t answer her questions.

 “I am asking you really basic questions,” Xinis said. “What’s been done … have you had any conversations?”

She gave the feds until Wednesday afternoon to update her and provide her potential witnesses who can speak to their efforts to ship Abrego Garcia to Eswatini. They are due back in court Friday.

Outside court after Monday’s hearing, immigrant activist Lydia Walther-Rodriguez told reporters: “This case is not just about one man. It is about the integrity of the U.S. Constitution.

“We need to continue to raise collective conscience as we continue to witness the inhumane retaliation by our government to a man and his family who are simply demanding due process.”

Abrego Garcia, 29, first made national headlines when he was wrongfully deported to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in his native Central American county on April 4. He was returned to the US after a legal battle.

But after an order blocking the Trump administration from sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, the feds are now seeking to deport him to another country, following immigrations rulings denying his bid for asylum in the US.

He’s also since been charged with human trafficking, but in that case Abrego Garcia clinched a win last week when a Tennessee judge found the Department of Justice likely engaged in “vindictive” prosecution in retaliation for winning his fight to be returned to the US.

Abrego Garcia came to the US illegally in 2012 and local law enforcement in Maryland allege he’s a member of MS-13 — which is a rival of the Salvadoran gang Barrio-18.

His defense team has cited concerns that he would be targeted by Barrio-18 were he to return to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia was first denied asylum in 2019 and again this year by an immigration judge, who also suspended his removal to El Salvador over safety concerns. That recent ruling left the door open for Abrego Garcia to be deported to another country.