White House Misses Judge's Deadline on Deportee

Justice Department must now provide daily updates to the judge
Posted Apr 11, 2025 12:42 PM CDT
Updated Apr 11, 2025 1:59 PM CDT
White House Misses Judge's Deadline on Deportee
This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia.   (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)

The Justice Department did not abide by a judge's order to detail how it planned to retrieve a mistakenly deported man, saying it did not have enough time to comply by the Friday morning deadline. It's the latest back-and-forth over the plight of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was picked up in Maryland and sent to a prison in his native El Salvador, reports CBS News.

  • After the missed deadline, US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Justice Department to provide daily updates on what is being done to secure Abrego Garcia's return, reports Reuters. "We are going to make a record of everything the government is doing and not doing," she said, adding that it was "extremely troubling" the Justice Department missed the deadline to document the deportee's whereabouts and status.
  • A Justice Department lawyer said the department would comply with the new directive. The judge imposed the initial deadline soon after the Supreme Court backed her on Thursday and ordered the US to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return.

  • In what the New York Times described as an "aggressive" court filing to explain the missed deadline, government lawyers called the short turnaround "impracticable."
  • "In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court's Order following the dissolution of the administrative stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they 'can' share any information requested by the Court," wrote a Justice Department attorney, per the Washington Post. "That is the reality."
  • "Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review," reads the filing, per the AP. This response prompted another hearing, at which Xinis ordered the daily updates.
(Updated with the judge's order to provide daily updates on the case.)

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