Things Got Crunchy In Court Regarding Maryland Man Wrongly Deported

Things got very crunchy in court today as a federal judge grew weary of Justice Department lawyers who appeared to stonewall her efforts to get even basic info about a man who was unlawfully deported to El Salvador. DOJ officials have already acknowledged that they made an “administrative error” when they put the man on the plane to El Salvador. Judge Paula Xinis has now ordered the DOJ to provide daily updates on its progress toward returning Mr. Abrego Garcia to the U.S. More from the New York Times:

The dispute involving Judge Xinis emerged directly from a Supreme Court ruling issued on Thursday evening in which the justices told Trump officials to take steps to free Mr. Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran migrant, from a notorious prison in El Salvador where he was sent with scores of other migrants on March 15.

As part of its ruling, the Supreme Court told the administration that it should be prepared to “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken” to get Mr. Abrego Garcia back, as well as “the prospect of further steps” it intended to take.

During the hearing, in Federal District Court in Maryland, Judge Xinis asked Drew Ensign, a lawyer for the Justice Department, several questions about Mr. Abrego Garcia, including where he was at the moment.

But Mr. Ensign largely responded by telling her that Trump officials had not simply provided him with the information she wanted.

Legal reporter Anna Bower posted exchanges between Judge Xinis and Ensign during the hearing today. As the judge noted, there were several days that her original order was in place, and yet it looks like the DOJ did zero planning in terms of getting Abrego Garcia back. Check it out below.