Lawyers representing Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in a civil case have asked a Maryland federal judge to punish government officials for defying judicial commands and lying to the court.
And it’s getting personal.
After months of facing off with Justice Department lawyers who have been openly defiant in court, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis is now being asked to levy fines — not just against the government, but against the prosecutors who’ve defended the White House’s decision to deport the undocumented Maryland man to a notorious El Salvadoran prison. Xinis has already criticized the Trump administration for ignoring her orders.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers cited what they called “the government’s pattern of defying this court’s orders and stonewalling,” pointing to the numerous times Trump officials kept publicly asserting that it would never bring him back from the Central American nation. The government did return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last week, but to face charges for allegedly having “transported thousands of undocumented aliens” into the U.S. The charges were filed in late May, long after Abrego Garcia had been deported.
The 33-page request transforms this case from an effort to return Abrego Garcia into the leading attempt to hold the Trump government responsible for ignoring judicial orders.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have signaled that they’re planning to file a motion next week seeking to dismiss the case entirely as “now moot,” given that Abrego Garcia is back — albeit in American detention.
The lawyers put together a list of 93 instances in which government officials publicly seemed inclined to ignore the judge, including President Donald Trump’s admission during a TV interview that he “could” get the man back with a simple phone call, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that he wouldn’t tell “some judge” about whether the government was making an effort to get Abrego Garcia back, and a tweet from the Department of Homeland Security that said, “Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again.”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers pointed to two specific instances that could open the DOJ and DHS to sanctions. They allege Joseph N. Mazzara, DHS acting general counsel, “may have given untruthful testimony,” and that Attorney General Pam Bondi was saying publicly Abrego Garcia was never coming back to the U.S. while preparing his indictment behind the scenes — evidence of conflicting information given to Xinis.
However, it’s difficult to ascertain the exact nature of the alleged misrepresentations because much of the matter is hidden behind court-mandated redactions.
It’s now up to Xinis to determine whether to levy fines against Bondi, Rubio, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials — and if any punishment would be directed at their government offices or them personally.
“Personal sanctions are warranted against, at minimum, Joseph Mazzara, based on the conduct detailed above,” lawyers wrote. “Courts may impose monetary sanctions against government attorneys personally.”
Since Abrego Garcia and his family sued on March 24, the case has been a challenge for Xinis.
She has already shown herself inclined to take action against these Trump officials for their recalcitrant attitude. At a hearing in April, Xinis warned that their disobedience “ends now.” And last month, she called the depositions “an exercise in utter frustration.”
“I don’t want to tell you how long it took my wonderful law clerks to count up the ‘I don’t knows’ in each of those depositions,” Xinis said then, according to a court transcript.
—
Jose Pagliery is a reporter at NOTUS.