"Buckle up."
Those were the words of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Tuesday afternoon as she addressed Trump administration officials and lawyers for the now-deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia as the two sides tussle over what should be done with the MS-13-adjacent illegal now residing in El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. It should be noted that Abrego Garcia is now back in his homeland and was never a legal resident of the United States.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrived at the hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, ready to defend the administration's actions that resulted in Abrego Garcia being deported back in March. Let's do a brief recap before moving on to what Judge Xinis determined to be the next steps.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia illegally entered the U.S. in 2011 when he was 16 years old and was arrested in Maryland in 2019 while soliciting work as a day laborer in the parking lot of a Home Depot. At that time, an immigration judge found sufficient evidence that the illegal was involved with MS-13 and issued a deportation order; that order was later upheld by another immigration court. An effort by Abrego Garcia to seek asylum in the U.S. was denied, but a judge did grant him a "withholding of removal" status, which prevented his being sent back to his native El Salvador for fear he'd be targeted by rival gangs.
So, that seems to settle the matter of whether or not Mr. Abrego Garcia was affiliated with MS-13. He was. And the U.S. had every legal right to deport him. The gray area the DOJ finds itself in is whether or not he should have been sent back to his homeland or to some other third-world hellhole.
After the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia back to El Salvador, the left went into full meltdown over this poor, innocent "Maryland dad" who was "kidnapped" by ICE and DHS. Out goes CEO-killer Luigi Mangione as the left's martyr du jour, and in comes gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The left insists on being on the wrong side of absolutely everything -- it's their gift.
The Latest: District Court Amends Order Directing Trump Admin to 'Facilitate' Abrego Garcia's Return
Going into Tuesday's hearing in Judge Xinis's courtroom, Acting DHS General Counsel Joseph Mazzarra filed a declaration that laid out in pretty clear detail what the Trump administration would do if Abrego Garcia was released from CECOT or otherwise returned to the United States. In short, he'd either be taken into custody and sent to one of the aforementioned third-world hellholes, or his "withholding of removal" order would be terminated, and he'd be sent right back to CECOT.
Xinis decided that she would not hold administration officials in contempt of court for failing to return the illegal by her April 7 deadline but also warned that the two sides were in for an intensive, two-week period of discovery.
“We have to give process to both sides. But we are going to move,” US District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing in her Greenbelt, Maryland, courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding.”
Here's more from the judge:
MORE: XINIS says to buckle up for "two weeks of intensive discovery."
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 15, 2025
"We’re going to do this by the federal rules of civil procedure. So no press release is going to move the court the same way that sworn, under oath testimony from persons with knowledge … if you have…
Outside the courtroom, a smattering of the usual suspects, probably fresh off of torching Tesla dealerships, gathered to worship at the altar of an illegal alien gang member. And the illegal alien's bride vowed she would never give up on getting her husband back to the U.S., saying: “Today is 34 days after this disappearance…I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive.”
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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