Judge blocks Trump’s push to deport Abrego Garcia, rebukes DOJ for trying to ‘dictate’ court

A U.S. judge in Maryland rejected the Trump administration's attempt to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, using an otherwise procedural order Tuesday to scold the Justice Department for its conduct and for attempting, in the judge's view, to "dictate" the actions of the court.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis took umbrage at the government's demand that she rule by mid-April on their request for her to dissolve her injunction keeping Abrego Garcia in the U.S. for now, and allowing them to deport him to Liberia.

She sharply disputed the Justice Department's assertion that the court "must" rule by that date, at risk of having the injunction ignored. 

"Respondents cannot dictate the Court’s schedule or the outcome of the motion," Xinis said. "Nor can they appeal a judicial order that does not exist."

ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT

Ultimately, Xinis said Tuesday, the request was "not ripe" for the court to rule on the government's removal of Abrego Garcia, and set new briefing dates for both parties.

She also set a new briefing schedule, with filings due on April 20, and a new hearing date, scheduled for April 28.

Lawyers for the Trump administration told the court during a hearing hours earlier that they still intend to deport Abrego Garcia to the African country of Liberia, despite a new agreement between the U.S. and Costa Rica that would allow him to be sent there. 

Acting ICE director Todd Lyons argued that allowing Abrego Garcia to be sent to Costa Rica, his preferred country of removal, would be "prejudicial" to the U.S., citing what Lyons described as the "significant" government resources and capital the U.S. has invested in negotiating his removal and the removal of certain other migrants to Liberia.

Another official suggested Abrego Garcia could "remove himself" to Costa Rica, should he choose to live there, which the judge noted was a "fantasy."

ABREGO GARCIA LAWYERS ASK US JUDGE TO ORDER RETURN TO MARYLAND AMID ONGOING CRIMINAL CASE

Abrego Garcia's status has been at the center of a legal and political maelstrom since March 2025, when he was deported to his home country of El Salvador, despite a 2019 order from an immigration judge. He was returned by the Trump administration to the U.S. late last spring. 

Xinis, who has presided over Abrego Garcia's civil cases for the last 13 months, has developed a reputation for her careful, methodological style of questioning — a process she previously likened to "eating an elephant, one bite at a time." But the laborious review process has sparked criticism from Trump allies and Justice Department lawyers alike, who have expressed frustration with the lengthy timeline and what they argue are undue delays to removal efforts.

ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT

The Justice Department has bitterly disputed Abrego Garcia's current status in the U.S. for months, as well as the injunction keeping him in the country, for now.

His case has been further complicated by several details, including the November 2025 determination that Abrego Garcia had not been issued a final notice of removal needed to deport him to a third country.

Still, Xinis' unusually pointed order lays out what the judge described as a "careful recapitulation" of the case history, before concluding that "if anyone, Respondents bear the responsibility for substantial delay."

Trump administration officials have for months sparred over the final notice of removal in question, as well as whether the court should consider a retroactive removal order that an immigration judge issued in December. Other hearings have focused on what, if any, assurances the four African nations previously identified for Abrego Garcia's removal had provided, should he be deported there. 

Lawyers for the Trump administration have suggested on multiple occasions that Xinis lacks jurisdiction to review Abrego Garcia's case, citing matters involving diplomacy and foreign sovereigns, an area where presidential powers are at their strongest. 

Senior Trump administration officials have assailed Xinis and other district judges as "activist" judges whom they say have overstepped their powers in halting or pausing some of the president's biggest policy priorities, including on immigration issues and enforcement.

Xinis, for her part, has proceeded unfazed. She said in February that the government had failed to provide the court with any "good reason to believe" that they plan to remove Abrego Garcia to a third country in the "reasonably foreseeable future." 

Instead, she said, the government "made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success."