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Main: President Donald Trump during an event on energy production in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Inset: Kilmar Abrego Abrego Garcia in an undated photo (CASA).
The Trump administration appears to intend to keep information in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an admittedly “wrongfully deported” man from Maryland, under wraps by invoking the state secrets privilege, according to new court documents.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued an order on Wednesday saying a formal briefing was required for the government’s “invocations of privilege, principally the state secrets and deliberative process privileges,” which were discussed in a motion for discovery filed under seal by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers on Wednesday.
The Obama-appointed judge demanded that “simultaneous briefs” be submitted to address the “legal and factual bases for the invocation of those privileges,” and scheduled an in-person hearing for May 16, to address “solely the matters raised” about the state secrets and deliberative process privileges.
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Abrego Garcia’s legal team brought up the invocations on Wednesday as they continued to conduct depositions with Trump administration officials. The government has been ordered to turn over documents and other information about the Maryland dad’s March 15 deportation to his lawyers.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was living in the U.S. with protected legal status when he was taken into custody by federal agents and whisked away to a Salvadoran prison known as CECOT, or the Terrorism Confinement Center, according to his attorneys. Xinis has directed the government to facilitate his return and provide daily updates about their progress in getting Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., though their efforts have been lacking, according to the judge.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia, who is suing the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem, have accused the DOJ of flouting orders from Xinis and the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-page filing on April 15 alleged that Trump administration officials have been intentionally misconstruing court directives ever since Abrego Garcia, whose wife and child are both U.S. citizens, was deported in “error” under President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA), an 18th-century wartime authority previously invoked only three times, the last of which was during World War II.
The government has refused to divulge the person or persons responsible for authorizing Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador, which Xinis has called “a deliberate evasion of their fundamental discovery obligations.”
Abrego Garcia’s case has garnered international attention, quickly becoming one of the most high-profile and contentious lawsuits for the Trump administration since he retook office in January. The government has conceded that Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was an “administrative error,” but insists that he is a member of MS-13.
The government has proffered little, if any, evidence that Abrego Garcia is or ever was a gang member.
He has no criminal record in the U.S. or El Salvador, according to court filings, and has submitted sworn statements that he was fleeing El Salvador due to gang violence.
Jerry Lambe and Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
