A federal judge torched Department of Justice lawyers Monday for providing slippery answers on their case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was returned to the United States after being deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error.”
During the hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis said that attempting to get a straight answer from the DOJ was like “nailing jello to a wall,” according to Politico.
It’s not just that the Trump administration has openly refused to fully comply with Xinis’s requests for information. They’ve also provided wildly contradictory answers to the court’s questions—and continued to do so on Monday.
During a hearing last month, one Department of Homeland Security agent revealed that he was only asked to look into Abrego Garcia’s case on April 28 of this year. But during Monday’s hearing, a DOJ attorney claimed that the investigation into Abrego Garcia’s alleged criminal activity had begun before then.
“Now I have real concerns, as if I haven’t for the last three months,” Xinis said.
Last month’s revelation was considered an especially damning admission, because April 28 was more than a month after Abrego Garcia was sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison without due process. It was also a full week after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed, seemingly out of nowhere and without providing any evidence, that Abrego Garcia had “engaged in human trafficking.” Clearly, the Trump administration was attempting to dig up dirt to retroactively justify Abrego Garcia’s unlawful removal.
The Trump administration had also repeatedly claimed that Abrego Garcia could not be returned to the United States under any circumstances—but last month, he arrived in Tennessee to face two charges related to illegally transporting undocumented immigrants for cash.
“For three months, your clients told the world they weren’t going to do anything to bring him back. The president said it in two interviews,” Xinis said Monday. “Am I really supposed to ignore all that?
“How is that not relevant to this inquiry?” she pressed.
Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General Bridget O’Hickey said the situation was “unique.”
“We have acknowledged this was an administrative error,” O’Hickey said, breaking from the White House’s official line about Abrego Garcia being a hardened gang leader who was intentionally deported, opting for the truth as it was stated months ago.
Despite a judge ordering Abrego Garcia’s release, he still remains in custody after claiming that he feared he’d be deported by immigration authorities. Xinis ordered that the DOJ produce a witness from the Department of Homeland Security Thursday to testify about the agency’s plans for Abrego Garcia.
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