A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to address “all outstanding discovery requests” in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal immigrant who was deported to his home country of El Salvador last month.
Abrego Garcia was deported despite an immigration judge issuing a withholding of removal order, which legally barred his deportation to his home country, in 2019 because of concerns for his safety.
The administration has since been ordered by the court to facilitate his return to the United States, including providing information on the steps it has taken—and plans to take—to bring him back.
“For weeks, Defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders,” Xinis stated.
According to the court document, the administration has objected to answering questions related to the case “on the grounds of privilege,” including attorney-client privilege, the deliberative process privilege, the state secrets privilege, and “an undefined ‘government privilege.’”
The judge rejected this argument, saying the privileges were invoked without any supporting information.
“Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now,” she stated.
Xinis ordered the administration to provide the court with “specific legal and factual bases” for each asserted privilege by no later than 6 p.m. on April 23.
“If defendants want to preserve their privilege claims, they must support them with the required detail. Otherwise, they will lose the protections they failed to properly invoke,” the judge stated.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
The lawyers said that “disclosing the details of any diplomatic discussions regarding Mr. Abrego Garcia at this time could negatively impact any outcome.”
The administration has argued that it lacks the authority to return Abrego Garcia because he is now in the custody of Salvadoran authorities.
Kozak stated that Abrego Garcia provided this update to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on April 17 during the senator’s visit to the country.
President Donald Trump said that lawmakers from the Democratic Party were falsely portraying Abrego Garcia as an innocent person despite two separate courts finding him to be a member of “the violent, killer gang MS-13,” in the country illegally, and subject to a deportation order.
