Federal judge extends arguments in Abrego Garcia case, slams ICE witness who 'knew nothing'
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GREENBELT, Md. – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered lawyers for the Justice Department and Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to return to court Friday morning for another day of hearings as she continues to weigh next steps in the civil case. Those steps include an effort by Abrego’s attorneys to preempt the Trump administration’s plans to deport him to a third country as early as next week.
Xinis made the call for an additional day of arguments at 5:30 p.m. over the stated objections of Justice Department lawyers, who told her that at least two of them had prior obligations and could not appear in court. For her part, Xinis was unsympathetic.
She said the witness they provided to the court “took four times as long as he should have” in testimony “because he knew nothing.”
“That’s on the government,” Xinis said pointedly. “If you want to discuss that now, we can.”
Both parties were ordered to appear in court at 9 a.m. Friday to continue arguments.
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Xinis also suggested the possibility of a temporary restraining order, by which the government would agree to certain things, such as requirements that ICE keep Abrego Garcia in immigration custody for at least 48 hours before he is removed and that they keep him in local immigration detention facilities and do not “spirit him away to Nome, Alaska,” to prevent access to counsel before his removal.
“However, I’m not willing to just allow an unfettered release of Abrego Garcia,” if he is released from U.S. custody in Tennessee next Wednesday, she said. “I want full-throated assurances,” and there remains “much delta” between where they ended things Thursday and where she had hoped the court would be at the end of Thursday’s hearing.
The extended arguments capped a lengthy day of testimony in court led by witness Thomas Giles, the assistant director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations office.
Judge Xinis had ordered the government to produce for the court a witness with “personal knowledge” of Abrego Garcia’s case to testify, under oath, about the “who, what, where, and when” in regards to Abrego Garcia’s case and the government’s stated plans to take him into ICE custody pending release from criminal detention in Tennessee and deport him to a third country.
Little new information was provided. Giles said he was notified by a senior DHS official Tuesday morning at 7:47 a.m. Pacific Time about his role in the hearing, and that he had spent an estimated “3-4 hours” total prepping for the appearance.
He could not offer the court new information about third-country removals despite his 24 years at ICE, noting repeatedly that he had little familiarity with the procedures and had not had direct involvement with any such cases for the past 18 years.
Xinis, who spoke little during the proceedings, appeared taken aback by the lack of knowledge from Giles, despite his status as a top-ranking ICE official. She said she planned to continue the questions Friday and will likely address the lack of knowledge from a key government witness.
Xinis breezed past objections that the two Justice Department attorneys might not be available to argue, and dismissed the notion they have moved their schedules around to be accommodating.
“I have 400 cases,” she replied.
The request came after Justice Department officials conceded at a hearing earlier this week that Abrego Garcia could be removed from the U.S. as soon as July 16, nine days from today, when a federal judge in Tennessee will consider whether he should be freed and transferred to DHS custody.
Abrego Garcia, currently held by U.S. Marshals in Tennessee, was returned from El Salvador in June, three months after his deportation and weeks after the Supreme Court backed Xinis’ order to arrangre his return.
Upon arrival, Abrego was immediately slapped with federal charges from a 2022 traffic stop. Justice Department officials acknowledged in court this week they plan to immediately take him into ICE custody as early as this month and deport him to a third country, regardless of the status of his criminal case.
Xinis, who is handling his civil case, grilled Trump administration lawyers for details Monday as to when they opened a federal investigation into Abrego Garcia in the U.S. Middle District of Tennessee and how the timing of the investigation and federal indictment squared with the government’s testimony in her own court.
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She took umbrage at the dueling timelines of the criminal investigation, noting that, by the government’s own admission, it began investigating Abrego Garcia in the Middle District in Tennessee April 28, 2025, the same time officials were telling the court that the administration was powerless to order a foreign government to return Abrego Garcia in compliance with the court order.
“Now I have real concerns — as if I haven’t for the last three months,” Xinis noted in response.
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Justice Department lawyers also told Xinis they do not plan to keep him in the U.S. until his trial is over.
“No,” Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn answered simply.
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“There’s no intention to just put him in limbo in ICE custody while we wait for the criminal case to unfold,” Guynn told Xinis. “He will be removed, as would any other illegal alien in that process.”
“Given the series of unlawful actions” here, I feel like it’s well within my authority to order this hearing — perhaps more than one — to hear testimony from at least one witness with firsthand knowledge, who can answer these questions about the immediate next steps” from the government pending Abrego Garca’s release from custody, Xinis said.