Illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed a motion in court Wednesday, arguing that the Trump administration’s lawyers should be held in contempt of court for violating court orders.
After the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to an El Salvadorian prison in March, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis ruled that the administration must return him to the states on the grounds that he’d been mistakenly deported.
Days later on April 10, the Supreme Court effectively upheld Xinis’ ruling, prompting the district court judge to double down:
JUST IN: Following the Supreme Court’s order, Judge Paula Xinis orders the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia “as soon as possible.”
She gives the DOJ until 930 AM tomorrow to detail where Abrego Garcia is and the steps taken to bring him back. pic.twitter.com/44qJW55z0m
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) April 11, 2025
The Trump administration subsequently fought back by repeatedly arguing that it no longer had jurisdiction over Abrego Garcia, as he was in El Salvador.
But then in early June, the administration suddenly found a way to return the “Maryland dad” to the states to face criminal charges.
This — his sudden return– was what triggered the June 11 complaint.
Do Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have a case?
“While the Government was telling this Court one thing and the world something else, it was secretly working to charge Abrego Garcia with two felony immigration charges based on alleged conduct that occurred years ago,” the complaint read.
“Although Attorney General Bondi declined, when asked by reporters, to state when the criminal investigation began, public reporting indicates that it started in April — around the same time that this Court ordered expedited discovery into the Government’s apparent defiance of Court orders,” the complaint continued.
The premise was that the Trump administration could have returned Abrego Garcia from day one but purposefully refused to, so they could first build a case against him.
“The Government’s defiance has not been subtle,” the attorneys wrote. “It has been vocal and sustained and flagrant.”
The complaint also included a snippet from a New York Times report published in May.
But the real smoking guns are alleged responses of, for instance, DHS atty Joseph Mazzara, who filed a declaration & was deposed in the case. NYT has reported emails of him allegedly saying, “We’re also trying to keep him where he is.”
/3 pic.twitter.com/zCmfnXXxWw— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) June 12, 2025
The Times report contained State Department correspondence showing how Trump administration officials were purposefully intent on keeping Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, despite court rulings.
“We are working to fix it, so he doesn’t need to be returned to the U.S.,” a Department of Homeland Security official wrote on March 28.
“We’re also trying to keep him where he is,” Trump-appointed DHS lawyer Joseph Mazzara added.
In motion for civil contempt & other sanctions against govt officials, including personal fines, Abrego Garcia’s attys shoot for the moon. Here they ask Judge Xinis to order AG Pam Bondi et al. to turn over her personal devices for in camera review. …
/1https://t.co/XF9vVtJ2cq pic.twitter.com/rXqTy2vJEX— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) June 12, 2025
The complaint filed June 11 by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys also called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be ordered to hand over certain devices and documents, so they could be searched for proof of how she’d purposefully refused to facilitate their client’s return and his eventual release.
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