A federal judge is pressing Trump administration officials to provide more information about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a union sheet metal worker from Maryland who was erroneously deported and imprisoned in El Salvador, while officials have opposed court orders and accused Abrego Garcia of being a gang member and terrorist despite his apparent lack of any criminal record.

On April 15, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered government officials to provide “expedited discovery” with evidence concerning Abrego Garcia’s current location and custodial status, what steps they have taken to facilitate his immediate return to the U.S. and what additional steps they will take. Attorneys representing Abrego Garcia can seek answers to some related questions and request related documents. The deadline to turn over all the information is April 24, followed by an April 30 deadline for the government to respond to any supplemental filings by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys. 

The latest order follows others Xinis issued directing officials to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, though she wrote that officials “appear to have done nothing” even after the Supreme Court mostly upheld the directive. 

Trump administration officials have said they are limited in what they can do, despite arranging with the El Salvador government to lock up men from El Salvador and Venezuela in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, and despite U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visiting the facility last month. During an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi said “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to release him.” Bukele also said it was also out of his power to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “the foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court.”

The judge seemed to address those comments, writing that while the Supreme Court’s order noted that the court must retain deference to the executive branch in foreign affairs, that does not mean the court must ignore officials’ “repeated refusal to provide even the most basic information” about their steps to facilitate his release. 

“Thus far, the [government officials] appear to have taken no steps, and provided no explanation, legal or otherwise, for such inaction,” Xinis wrote. 

The judge also highlighted examples of past cases in which the government facilitated the return of removed non-citizens in Ethiopia, Japan and Haiti. 

Abrego Garcia was a teenager when he fled El Salvador and entered the U.S. illegally around 2011. He has been working as an apprentice with International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 100. While Abrego Garcia was in the U.S. without permission, an immigration judge in 2019 issued a grant prohibiting his removal to El Salvador and granting him permission to work in the U.S. 

Despite that grant, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Abrego Garcia into custody after he finished a shift at a Baltimore jobsite and picked up his son on March 12. A few days later, ICE flew him to El Salvador. ICE officials admitted in court filings that the deportation was an “administrative error” and that they had not been aware of the grant prohibiting his removal. 

The situation has garnered increasing attention since SMART union leaders and immigration activists began speaking out alongside Abrego Garcia’s wife. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) flew to El Salvador on April 16 and met with the El Salvador vice president, but said he was unable to meet with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen, speaking to local reporters, said Trump administration officials have been lying about Abrego Garcia and his alleged gang membership.

“This is a lie to cover up what they did … They illegally abducted Mr. Abrego Garcia from Maryland and sent him to CECOT,” Van Hollen said.