The judge overseeing the Maryland deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Monday denied the government’s request to delay proceedings because of the government shutdown.
The ruling came Monday during a status conference held in the case of Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man deported in error to El Salvador last March and then returned back to the United States in June to face criminal charges in Tennessee.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she she felt “duty bound” to continue the case given its importance and the fundamental questions it raises about deportation policies.
The government was prohibited from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, but now seeks to deport him to another country, including possibly Uganda OR in Swat. Judge Xinis has currently banned the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the continental United States.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys argued that the only reason for detention after there are orders of removal is to effectuate that removal. If there are no current plans for his imminent removal, they argued, then Abrego Garcia should be released from detention. Government attorneys pointed to previous court decisions that indicate they have six months’ leeway.
Judge Xinis appeared exasperated Monday with government attorneys who could not answer if there was additional evidence about removal plans to Eswatini beyond letters sent to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.
“That’s not a tenable position. You’ve either done it or you haven’t,” she said. “It’s not a hard question, guys”
In this Aug. 25, 2025, file photo, Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Baltimore, Maryland.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Government attorneys were unable to find anyone who could address the judge’s questions about what efforts had been made to remove Abrego Garcia to Eswatini, citing the government shutdown as one possible reason.
The judge gave the government until Wednesday afternoon to file any evidence about steps taken to remove Abrego Garcia to Eswatini. She also asked the government to provide witnesses who can speak firsthand to those efforts.
“I am asking you really basic questions,” Xinis said. “What’s been done … have you had any conversations?”
A hearing is scheduled for Friday.
“This case is not just about one man. It is about the integrity of the U.S. Constitution,” Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, chief of organizing and leadership at the immigration rights group CASA, said at a press conference outside the courthouse prior to the hearing. “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.”
Government lawyers had requested a stay of all deadlines related to the case due to the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.
“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, including emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate wrote in a court filing.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had asked that the court deny the government’s request, and also, in light of the government’s position, to allow Abrego Garcia to be released from detention.
“The mere fact that the Government is seeking to extend all deadlines in this case indefinitely shows that there is no significant likelihood that Petitioner will be removed in the reasonably foreseeable future. Accordingly, there is no justification for continuing Petitioner’s detention,” his lawyers wrote in a reply.
Abrego Garcia is currently being detained at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania.
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States from El Salvador in June to face criminal charges of human smuggling in Tennessee. The judge in that case released him into his brother’s custody in Maryland. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials then indicated that he could potentially be deported to Uganda and ordered him to report to the ICE field office in Baltimore.
When Abrego Garcia arrived at the office, he was immediately taken into immigration custody.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers in the Tennessee case have filed a motion to dismiss based on their claim of the prosecution being vindictive. A judge this past week determined that the “totality of events” creates a sufficient basis that there was a “realistic likelihood” that the government may have acted vindictively and entitles Abrego Garcia to discovery and a hearing on the matter before the court makes a decision on the motion.
A status conference is set for Friday in Nashville.
In a separate immigration court ruling last week, an immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia’s request to reopen his original immigration case. His lawyers had argued that his deportation and return to the U.S. had reset the clock on making an asylum claim, but the judge did not agree, closing that potential path to preventing deportation.
ABC News’ Rebecca Gelpi contributed to this report.
