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U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis excoriated Trump administration lawyers Friday in a remarkable status hearing centered on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error. The heated back-and-forth was full of eye-popping exchanges between the judge and the Justice Department, as she took umbrage with their attempts to invoke the state secrets privilege to shield details concerning Abrego Garcia from the court. "What world are we living in," Xinis asked in disbelief after more than two hours...

Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, erupted on the Trump Administration after a conference to address the government’s dispute over discovery in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. The judge accused the Trump Administration of defying her court order and ordered the government to provide more details by Wednesday about its decision to send Abrego Garcia to CECOT. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an El Salvadorian national who was illegally residing in Maryland. In 2019, an immigration judge ordered Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the dangerous MS-13 gang, removed from the US. ...... Snip....... On Tuesday, Judge Xinis accused the Trump...

A federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to return an alleged MS-13 gang member wrongly deported to El Salvador last month ruled that she would not hold any government officials in contempt for violating her order — for now — but warned against further “gamesmanship.” US District Judge Paula Xinis said that the federal government failed to provide evidence detailing their efforts to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States by April 7 after he was shipped off to El Salvador’s hellhole lockup CECOT. “There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” she said at a...

GREENBELT, Maryland — A federal judge ordered an “intense” two-week inquiry into the Trump administration’s refusal to seek the return of a man who was wrongly deported from Maryland to a notorious prison in El Salvador. “To date, what the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a court hearing Tuesday. Xinis’ order sets up a high-stakes sprint that may force senior Trump administration officials to testify under oath about their response to court orders requiring them to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. Each day...

GREENBELT, Maryland — An exasperated federal judge commanded the Trump administration Friday to begin providing “daily updates” on whether it is doing anything to comply with her order to return a Maryland man — illegally deported to El Salvador last month — back to the United States. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis scolded the administration for refusing to provide even “basic” details about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s location, despite her demand for an update by Friday morning.

A federal appeals court on Monday denied the Trump Administration’s request to stop a judge’s order to return alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego to the United States. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals also blasted the DOJ for suspending the DOJ immigration lawyer who repeatedly apologized to the judge last week during a hearing. Last Friday US District Judge of the US District Court for the District of Maryland, Paula Xinis ordered the Trump Administration to return an alleged MS-13 gang member to the United States after he was deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. Judge Xinis ordered...